Black and White
by BlackSheep WhiteLion
Summary: When people think of the Kuga family, they think of wealth, or power and they think of.. curses... 200years have passed.. since that day... They say blood, is thicker than water, and this rings true especially for demons.
1. Chapter 1

**BLACK **and_ WHITE_

It was autumn; the sky coloured a murky grey with the persistent threat of snow, and a cool mist that covered the scene acting as a blanket; it draped across the tree filled path The path ahead being covered as it was, made it impossible to see further than a few feet.

A black car rolled up the cobbled driveway, the hum of its engine the only sound in the crisp morning air. Its dim lights were trying to break through the mist, without success. In the back a girl about the age of eighteen sat slouched, her eyes focused on the small droplets of water that cascaded down the car window; as the ice, that coated the car like a thin layer of frosting, melted from the heat of the car. One knee up, right arm wrapped around it to keep it in place as the car rumbled over more bumpy pieces of the road she sat there, unmoving.

Sitting next to her was a tall man dressed in a clean black suit, hair oiled back. He made no move for conversation and neither did the girl. There was little of interest to talk about; nothing of happy news anyway.

The car slowed to a halt, the man looked towards the girl, unblinking.

"We are here, Natsuki-sama."

She made no move, but her eyes did survey her surroundings. The outside grass was long and unkempt, any features of what supposedly was once the garden were falling apart, or had already given way to the elements and crumbled.

She waited as the driver stopped the engine and stepped out, making his way over to Natsuki's door opening it for her.

The air was crisp, cold and felt damp. She lifted her rucksack out of the car and slung it haphazardly onto her shoulder.

Her eyes were drawn to the most intriguing factor; the manor house.

"It is a wonder. Is it not Natsuki-sama?"

"It's a bloody shit hole, that's what it is." And in truth she was right, the manor was not the prettiest of things, to put it basically it looked as though it was falling apart at the seams. Its huge grey structure stretched across your vision, refusing to let your eyes wonder from anywhere but the structure before you.

The man sighed, his eyes cast down. "Nether the less Natsuki-sama. This is your new home."

"If **that** is wanna call this." She spat.

Once more the man shook his head, sighing softly. Slowly he strove over to the manor doors which were looming over him huge and black like the gates of hell. The ominous presence they gave off had him nervously swallow and clear his throat. He pulled up his tie and put on his best business smile.

Then he knocked.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

They echoed throughout the manor grounds. Natsuki shuffled her feet, the atmosphere getting to her slightly. She moved closer to the car; the lingering warmth was a comfort.

All eyes went to the massive doors, they creaked open as if they had not been opened in years. The great black doors squeaked in protest, as if in pain. An elderly man poked his head out the door. His weepy light blue eyes observed them, with what could be perceived to be contempt.

"What?" The curt and blunt question was spat out, making the man's eyes widen slightly.

"Ah-" he cleared his throat. "I believe you are expecting us?" He turned and gestured for Natsuki to come forward. His eyes reeked of urgency. Slowly Natsuki made her way over; her eyes shifting as she came closer.

An arm shot out, grabbing hers and pulling her forward.

"This.. is Kuga Natsuki." The smile plastered onto his face seemed as if he was a plastic toy. "I have come to.. uh.. Leave her in the care of Madam Kuga. I believe that you have been informed about this."

The elderly mans eyes raked over Natsuki, narrow and terse. "I see.. we heard something of the sort.. Come in."

Natsuki was pushed through the twin doors of 'hell', her feet scuffing on the carpet, a deep, rich red almost like blood. It contrasted beautifully with the black flooring shimmering and blinking in the dull grey light like a sea at night. Pillars of dark marble, engraved with markings of a most exotic kind stood, lining the carpet and rooting the manor almost painfully to the ground.

Natsuki's hand went up as if possessed, her fingers tracing the markings on said pillars with wonder and rapture, for she had not thought such beautiful craftsmanship would exist in this seemingly rundown manor. The butler tapped the floor with his cane, and with their attention nodded his head in a following gesture. He led them into a large room illuminated by a grey light shining through the ghostly misted windows. Sofa's and chairs were littered around, lining the perimeter of the room, a large stately fireplace was included in a far wall, embers still glowing softly, but they did not spend much light or heat for that matter.

Portraits of old, oil licked faces were hung proudly on the grey walls. a loud tick-tock thrummed through the air breaking the silence as the grandfather clock atop the staircase made it's presence known.

A slight cold was in the air, like a dim shadow that crept across your shoulder.

Tick-tock.

The elderly man shuffled ahead of the party, he was dressed in a old black suite and his back was bent over slightly no doubt due to years of hard work. In one hand he had a cane that tapped on the floor in time with the grandfather clocks dull sound.

Tick-tock

The elderly man trembled as he climbed the stairs to the upper levels of the mansion, however help was not offered by either of the followers, nor was there sound made by them other than their footsteps and the old mans cane, clicking along with the grandfather clock. As they climbed the marble staircase, Natsuki turned her head to get a full feel for the sheer size of the Kuga mansion.

Was there seriously only going to be her and another small handful of others living here?

Tick-tock

The staircase split to both, the left and the right , but they turned to the latter direction and kept the steady pace of the elderly man.

At the top the stairway broke off into a hallway with dozens of other hallways leading off which no doubt lead to many other hallways. It was apparently like a labyrinth made of black marble.

Tick-tock

They walked down the seemingly endless hallways, turning here and there until they came to a worn, tired door, which seemed to be straight out of a palace with it's gold handles, the dark frame and the stunning features that adorned it. It still stood proud after many years of use, it seemed.

The elderly man placed his hand on the handle and it slipped open as if butter was on it's hinges and without a squeak of protest nor a groan of displeasure as one would have expected.

Tick-tock

The man turned and bowed to them, all nodded back to him slight and curt. He then bowed once more and left.

The room he had led them to was a study, Victorian style; an ebony desk with a dark leather chair sat at the top of a small flight of stairs. Papers were slipping off it on to the dark floor, book shelves and portraits lined the walls.

There was a fireplace as well, decorated with carvings of wolves for they represented the Kuga's Family symbol. It blazed and crackled in the room, illuminating dark shadows of the chairs placed before it. There was a coffee table of the same old wooden ebony, it held a small cup of steaming liquid.

And in the chair directly in front of the fire was a small elderly woman, eyeing the both of them.

"M-Mistress Kuga, I must tell you what an honour it is." He bowed, head low.

The woman rose from her chair, at ninety-three years of age you could clearly see that the time had been taking it's toll on her. From the bent back and the old, wrinkled face Natsuki could tell that this woman definitely did not smile much. Like the elderly man she possessed a cane, this one however was much more extravagant. It's handle was made so that it resembled the family symbol, being a golden wolf's head while an also golden snake wrapped itself around the main part of the cane right down to the floor.

Her eyes were sharp, a pale green colour and cold, the type that drew your attention like a flickering flame despite their colour. A pair of spectacles balanced on her curved nose, her hair was short and curled.

She slowly stepped closer to them, all the while observing them. She stared Natsuki dead in the eyes and Natsuki had to keep herself from shuffling her feet, the intensity of her eyes unnerving. Her body tensed, she had to keep herself from flinching, as the woman's old, wrinkly hand came up and gripped her cheek, her nails digging slightly into her cheek like the talons of an eagle.

"Hmm? I see so you took more after your mother after all, but you have the green eyes of a Kuga; a little dark in colour though."

She released her and Natsuki stepped back rubbing the nail indents on her cheeks. And turned towards the man.

"I see you have brought her as I have asked, but where are her things? Do not tell me that everything she has is in that rucksack of hers?"

"N-no I- we have all her things outside in the car, I have done as you asked." The man could not help but think the old woman's eyes unnerving as well it seemed.

"Good." The old woman once again turned to Natsuki and rasped, "I suppose they told you why you were summoned here.

"Somewhat.." Natsuki shrugged. "You want me to inherit this manor."

The elderly woman sighed, both hands resting on the cane's handle while she slowly nodded. "Your father is not worthy to step foot - let alone live - in this mansion. I do not blame your mother for leaving him."

The girl sneered at the thought of her deadbeat father for even in the eyes of his own family, of whom he boasted about oh so often, did not want him.

"You are one of the last of the Kuga's, your bloodline has been tied to this place for generations and I will not allow it to be taken from us." The old woman sighed again and continued. "Your father is the son of my brother.. the poor man must be turning in his grave when seeing what his son has become. This mansion has always belonged to the eldest in the line of the Kuga family, so when my brother died I inherited it. Now your father should become the new master of the house, but as unworthy as that man is I have decided to skip his generation." The elderly woman put a bony hand on Natsuki's shoulder, the hairs on her arms prickling as she shivered at the hold.

"My dear your mother is gone, you have little to no money. That is why you were sent here, it is an act of kindness on my part. Be grateful I do no have to do this. The inheritance is not the reason you are here. That is a matter for later."

Natsuki gaped at the elderly woman. "So I'm here.. Because I'm here?"

"Child you are practically an orphan. You have no money to your name, and few qualifications. I do not doubt that you are smart but my dear girl you are here because you are family." The woman sighed. "Come I have someone you must meet."

Once again they drifted through the marble labyrinth. Room after room, it was a wonder the old woman who lead them did not get the slightest bit worn out.

As they got closer to their destination, Natsuki could hear faint music echoing throughout the corridor. It was a hauntingly beautiful melody created by a piano, drawing you in closer and closer until it got a hold of you like a shimmering fishing hook, glimmering in the deep waters, like a silver whisper. A siren of the deep black sea, its beautiful sound calling, begging for death.

The corridor opened up into a much wider hall with several plain, black doors lining the walls. The light became colder freezing Natsuki's bones, crawling up them like a million tiny insects, covering them piece by piece... They crept close, the door seemed to swell, looming over them. Her hands became clammy, trembling slightly and her stomach dropped as all the muscles in it clenched - like a death grip.

She could taste a kind of acidy taste in her mouth, making her tongue feel like it had broken off and was just floating in her mouth. She swallowed trying to get feeling back into her mouth.

Nerves crawled up her spine and she shivered, their footsteps echoing off the walls, everlasting. It seemed like in those old movies, where the character is in this creepy, old house where the floorboards creek with every step, but in this case the creaking was replaced by the echoing, for there was no hardwood floor, just the heavy black marble. That sound was stuck in her head, bouncing around in there and thundering like a heavy storm in the dead of the night, making her skin crawl and her hair stand on end

The door in front of the three of them was taller than all other doors they have seen thus far in the manor, but it also was thinner and unlike them it also was white.

The elderly woman shuffled forwards, placed a bony hand on the elegant door handle and the door clicked open, allowing the music that had been kept inside to pour out like opening Pandora's box, and wash over them like a refreshing wave of ocean water.

The room was huge but pretty much blank, large French windows letting in the cold light from outside, which made the black marble flooring shimmer softly when it was not obscured by the shadows of the white grilles for they cut up the lighting, creating a fitting pattern of long shadows.

The shimmering black marble floor seemed to ice over at the parts where the light touched and glinted off the surface, like a deep frozen lake on a moonless night.

And there was the piano, sitting directly in the middle of the room. It's stark black surface which seemed as if a it had risen from the ground itself, like a tombstone, polished so that the light reflected off of it, creating the illusion of it glowing softly.

An ornate ceiling stretched up in a dome like feature, the paint starting to peel off as it's colours were already darkening but the painting they formed still visible and beautiful.

Finally Natsuki could feel the age of the house, she could see the cracks in the black marble and the way the light shone upon it allowed a thin sheet of dust to be seen.

But what drew Natsuki's eyes the most was the figure seated at said piano. Despite the chill of the house that hadn't worn off once while she was shown around, the figure wore a light summer dress of the purest white. It made her look detached from the world, yet somehow it fit to the mood in the room.

It was not easy to explain, but it simply fit - maybe it was the serene expression on the figures face that made it seem so? Oh and what a face it was, so beautiful while so pale it blended with the dress she wore, it seemed almost unhealthy.

But Natsuki found something odd, it was the fact that the girls eyes were devoid of emotion, simply blank.. it did not help matters, that the eyes were quite unique, for when does one ever see eyes the same colour as the rising of the sun, albeit duller and not quite as bright.

It seemed almost.. demonic.. the way it all contrasted but at the same time complimented itself.

Natsuki's breath was cut short but the mixture of emotions that surged though her, and exploded like a firework, bouncing around her ribcage, making it impossible to draw even the slightest breath.

But it all bubbled up and under one word.

Fear.

This girl, with eyes that reflected the deepest voids of hell. This girl, who's whole aura screamed tainted beauty.

It scared her.

* * *

**OXOXOXOXOXO**

_L: So~ did you like it? :D_

**S: No :P**

_L: Don't be such a poopy face sheep -.-_

**S: ...if I say 'I am not a poopy face' you will disagree, and we'll go on and on with the 'yes' and 'no'. So I'm just gonna say nothing to that.**

_L: ...fine (spoil sport -.-). but we are such meanie faces aren't we~ we stopped it riiiiiight on a cliff hanger :3_

**S: My idea. Although I myself hate cliff-hangers. I am a hypocrite. Sue me.**

_L: I kinda like them.. even when they make me go 'NUUUUUUUU :O'_

**S: wow, I was just honestly trying to remember what reaction I have when I read a story with cliff-hangers. Cannot even remember.. my brain is just total mush today.**

_L: ikr guys listen to this "..eyes that freplected the deepest.." She wrote that while we were going over and rewriting some bits. What the hell does freplected even mean?_

**S: It doesn't mean anything, it was a freaking' typo. And leabe my typos alone D:**

**...Leave* Just wrap it up, my brain is serious mush, as you can tell. starting to make typos on easy stuff…. I need to go slaughter something. **

_L: Its hard to b u isn't it._

**S: Totally, I need to deal with you. That's hard as hell.**

_L: oh hush u we went over this its our FRIENDSHIP ANNIVERSARY TODAY! one year u love me!_

**S: Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just couldn't get rid of you until now.**

_L: (She loves me) :D I will never let gooooo~_

**S: I know, so I am stuck with you. Well, I guess it could be worse. **

**...nothing worse comes to mind right now, but whatever.**

_L: XD love u sheep~ but lets wrap this up for the first chapter._

**S: Yup. I hope you enjoyed it and... what the hell, no ones gonna read this long*ss notice, so who cares what we write in here? **

**Just try to review and tell us what you liked, or disliked, so that we could work on those parts.**

_L: REVIEWS = COOKIES XD_


	2. Chapter 2

**BLACK** and _WHITE_

**Updates will be every month, unless there are emergency problems at home or something; if there is it should say so on our profile.**

In all her life, Natsuki had never felt like this, the feeling of drowning in the atmosphere of the room as those hypnotizing eyes bore into hers. It was not only the colour, it was the missing emotion that made her skin prickle in a very uncomfortable way. People often say that you can cut tension with a knife, but this felt so very different - it was tougher, colder. And it was so damn stagnant, that seemingly nothing could cut through it.

Natsuki swallowed nervously, her eyes still fixed onto the red ones across the room. One would expect them to feel warm, like a comfortable fire but they were not, they were somehow blazing in a cold way, freezing so cold that it burnt your very skin and turned you brittle.

The beauty did not react to her, it seemed as if she ignored her even though they were staring at each other, it was as if Natsuki was an object of some sort. She simply continued to play that haunting melody, albeit now softer and quieter. Natsuki let her eyes shift for a second to look at the creators of that piece, the fingers. Cliché as it may sound, but those really were piano-fingers, long and thin but not in an unhealthy way… more delicate, like porcelain maybe, it seemed as if they could break easily if handled in a wrong way.

The pale girl either did not mind her wandering eyes… or she just ignored them and stared at something beyond Natsuki, which did not help her calm her nerves at all. The distant look the girl had in her eyes seemed to lock Natsuki in place, like a firm grip demanding her to stay; and Natsuki - unable to turn away from that hypnotizing gaze - stood floundering in her deep eyes, stuck to her spot like a fly on sticky paper.

That was when she remembered the other two people in the room, and decided that the ogling had to end, at least for now. She made a mental note to herself to try and avoid the girl; like the plague, at all costs, at least the manor was huge; the likeability of them running into each other was low. She turned her head to look at her great-aunt who had not seemed to have noticed their interactions at all. Maybe this had been one of those moments, when you just stare at somebody and time seems to freeze up and your thoughts seem to be going 7miles per second, while in reality only 3seconds have passed.

Was she really so captivated by that pianist, or was her mind slowly turning to mush, from all that information she had received in the last hour. It was probably just that and nothing more.

Finally, the girl looked away from Natsuki turning back to her piano. Her eyes slid shut as if going into a deep slumber shutting out all others. Natsuki saw all her arm muscles relax, and then a short sigh escaped from the girl's pale lips.

It was like a little bird escaping from a cage, a tiny breath of life to let Natsuki know that the girl before her was not just a doll but a real person.

Natsuki heard a crack and felt a sudden pain on her legs. She looked down to see the old woman's cane resting on her shins.

"Do not stare so much, it is rude and terribly distracting."

Crap. Turns out people had noticed her staring- looking at the girl for too long. She blushed a little at being caught. The old woman cackled a little under her breath. She was made to step back a little realizing that she had shuffled into the room a little too far.

"This..." The old woman stepped in front of Natsuki, separating her from the girl, suddenly she didn't feel so tense but the chill creeping up her spine accelerated at a rapid rate. ".. is Kuga Shizuru, your second cousin."

"My what?", her voice had been a tad higher than she would have liked, but she hoped no one had noticed it. Then it occurred to her, "How does that second cousin thing work anyway?".

Her great-aunt sighed and made as if to reply, but the seemingly forgotten man in the suit beat her to it after clearing his throat. "If I may, I believe it means that Madam Kuga's son is her father, and since she is your grandfather's sister, thus your father's aunt, that would make her son your father's cousin which results in the two of you being second cousins."

"...uh-huh.", was the dull reply, "Could anyone make sense out of that?"

Madam Kuga shook her head slightly. "How very eloquent, you could have not explained it any easier, now could you?" There seemed to even be a little of sarcasm in her voice, even though it definitely did not fit to her image. "Basically, your fathers are cousins, thus making you second cousins."

"..Couldn't he have just said so?" Natsuki could not help but glare at the man. Why did people always have to make everything so damn complicated?

The man chuckled nervously at the cold glares that stared him down; he even backed out of the room a little.

"Any other secret relatives that I should know about?"

A laugh rumbled from the old woman. "Not that I know of…" For some reason, it didn't seem quite right.. The way she was saying it…, it was…vague. Not quite there. A lie?

Natsuki cleared her throat, she wasn't one for talking but this was supposedly a family member. "Well… It is… Uh…Nice to meet you.. Shizuru?" she was unsure she would get the name right. It was one of her weak points.

The sound of the piano stopped as once again empty burgundy eyes set their hollow gaze upon Natsuki. This time, she could tell that she was not the only one looking at the paler girl. Eyes glued to her face as she stared at Natsuki, not a word was spoken from her lips. The piano stool scrapped against the cold, black floor as the girl stood.

Her shoe-less feet hit the ground, and Natsuki could swear that it seem to ripple as if she was walking on water, with every step Shizuru took. It made her feel nauseated, because it just wasn't right - floors aren't supposed to do that! It definitely did not help matters that every ripple that reached her own feet washed over her whole body, causing her to broaden her stance for she feared of getting carried away with it, like waves crashing onto the sandy beach, carrying little things with them into the ocean.

Shizuru continued onward toward the three of them, though from Natsuki's perspective it seemed as though the girl was heading straight towards her. The others did not seem to notice what was going on, simply waiting for the girl to reach them in complete silence.

As she stood before them, she seemed to drain the air of its oxygen for Natsuki thought she'd suffocate simply in her presence. Did it only seem like that to her? The others couldn't just ignore all these strange things... could they? Her stomach, that had un-knotted itself some minutes ago returned to its painfully knotted state once again, but she tried to not let it show. Shizuru had her skin crawling enough as it was, she did not want to know how that girl would react if she noticed what she caused to her.

Whatever Natsuki had expected, it did not come close to what she was witnessing just now.

The other girl took another step forward, turned slightly to the side and hugged her Grandmother softly. She nearly wanted to kick herself, for not even thinking of something like that - it was after all still family, and Shizuru apparently had been in this manor longer than she, so of course she would be comfortable with the old hag - the old woman, not hag.

Natsuki watched in rapture, shocked rapture, as the old woman's arms wrapped around the girl, patting her atop the head, before resting on it for a few moments. Eyes wide Natsuki could only stare.

They let go of each other, the old woman's hand slipped to Shizuru's elbow, shaking her with a light smile on her face, yet for some reason Natsuki could not help but feel uneasy, that acidy taste was back, the one were Natsuki felt as if her mouth had detached from her body. Only this time it was not just her mouth, her fingers felt as though all energy to move them had been sucked out, clenching and unclenching them for the first time she felt how truly cold her fingers were.

"Shizuru-chan. I would like you to meet someone." Natsuki's great-aunt turned to her, placing a hand on the silent girl's shoulder.

"This is your second cousin, Natsuki." She spoke as if to a child, but the girl could not have been much younger than Natsuki. After all, she was able to spot a certain kind of intelligence in her eyes. The girl stared up at Natsuki with big, blank eyes. She just stared back with wide opened eyes, her body stiff as a board.

Then the girl was right in front of her, arms wrapped around Natsuki, tight, very tight. It almost hurt.

She did not know if she should hug her as well, or pat her back or her shoulder… or whatever else one does when hugging a complete stranger whom they have met minutes ago. She was not one for body contact, so she always tried to avoid it as best as she could. She definitely did not expect to get such a crushing hug from Shizuru and she would have preferred to not have received one as well for obvious reasons mentioned, as well as it just crept the shit out of her, to be blunt.

Natsuki did not know if it was the aura that surrounded the paler girl, or simply the unsettling eyes, or the fact that she could stand to walk upon the unbelievably cold marble with bare feet, but even though Shizuru seemed to be a nice girl - judging from that hug she gave the old hag - she just made her feel very uncomfortable. If it was possible, her stomach knotted itself together even tighter and made knots into the already existing knots - at least it felt like it.

After some seconds - were it really just seconds that have ticked by? It seemed as if she was crushed against Shizuru for hours without being allowed to breathe! - she was finally released and drew a deep breath while somehow managing to stay upright, her feet nearly gave out for lack of oxygen and because it all just scared her so much, that her knees nearly buckled.

Shizuru just sent a tiny, almost unnoticeable ghost of a smile her way, and then she stepped beside the old woman again - this time, the ground did not ripple with her every step which confused Natsuki and had her question her sanity.

Staring at the floor was not the best option, for the old hag - woman! - the old woman tapped on the floor with her cane sharply, to get her attention.

"Do not stare at the floor, girl!", her voice sounded a little annoyed.

Natsuki almost leapt out of her skin in shock of the shrill voice. "Alright, alright! I get it.. jeez.", she said the last part under her breath, nothing more than a soft whisper so that the woman would not hear her and reprimand her for it.

"Now child, join us for dinner." This was not a question, although to be honest, Natsuki wished it was. The desire to get away from her strange company was almost mind warping. Her senses were going off in every direction, urging her to get away. She needed to get away, but this was her family - the only family she had left.

She sighed, the thought of swallowing food was almost sickening to her, her throat clenching as she grimaced at it.

"Uh… Actually I was going to... go... unpack..?" She voiced it as a question; for now two unnerving stares were sent in her direction and the suited man also looked at her as if she had just turned down a ton of gold.

"Do not be so rude child. You will join us for dinner. Come now."

Begrudgingly, Natsuki followed them as they turned and made their way into another part of the manor. Her feet were dragging, her mind preoccupied with other things. Shizuru was walking behind the old Kuga who chatted with the suited man.

She studied the back of the red-eyed girl; delicate, soft and so very pale skin stretched across the muscles. And that soft caramel coloured hair that ran down her back in short waves. It had her wonder how her mother must have looked like, if they resembled each other as much as she resembled her own mother.

Her eyes followed the bone structure too, every bit seeming soft and smooth - not a sharp angle nor a bend in her posture.

But Natsuki could not stare for long, there was always this odd way to Shizuru. She just did not seem normal, to put it lightly.

She was so lost in her thoughts, trying to figure Shizuru out somehow, that she did not notice their arrival in a large dining room somewhere in the manor. If she would be thrust out into the hall and told, to go to the main door - she would not be able to find it, having absolutely no clue where they were now; she looked around the room with interest and confusion. Was she really this distracted the whole walk?

Natsuki shook her head softly, trying to get her mind together and also trying not to think too much about the beauty with the strange aura… and the bare feet.

"Do not stand there and stare off into your mind, you are not five, sit down child." Once again she was reprimanded for doing something... or rather, not doing something. That old hag was really going to get on her nerves all the times, wasn't she?

She sighed and just sat down at some random stool, not bothering to admire the fine carvings in the wood, or the beautiful satin in which the pollsters were covered.

Her eyes were instead drawn to the bouquet of flowers sitting in the middle of the tablecloth that covered the dark, wooden table. She had not really expected anything of the dining room - but still, a pure white tablecloth seemed out of place in this manor, just like Shizuru in her white dress. The flowers also did not seem to belong in here, never mind the mismatch of tablecloth and flower, the flowers where a soft, cobalt blue. She had no clue as to what kind of flowers they were, but they seemed pretty, so why not have them decorate a room.

They created a sense of life in the room, to be honest it seemed like the only form of it. Their cobalt blue stood as the stark eye catcher, as it contained the only colour in the room. There were only about five sprigs of the flowers, trapped together in this lonely and cold atmosphere. And funnily enough, Natsuki felt jealous of them.

They were forced here just as she, but they had companionship.

Natsuki sighed; truly the atmosphere must be getting to her - jealous of flowers- she almost sniggered at herself.

She had not noticed the others all take chairs; Shizuru's being almost adjacent to hers. The elder woman took her place at the head of the table that was in Natsuki's opinion, miles too big for a family such as theirs; small, almost non-existent.

The man sat almost right next to the head, having his undivided attention. She almost slumped forwards, stopping herself at the last second. The amount of crap she'd get for it, so not worth it. A few minutes later and the small, weepy eyed man rattled into the dining room.

He was dressed much the same, black suite, cane; only this time he had with him a serving trolley. Various sliver plates and dishes were shakily, rattling towards the table, first, the head of the table, then Shizuru, then the reluctant Natsuki and finally the man. It was then Natsuki realized what her standing was in the pecking order of the house..

So she was the third in order, or practically the last for the suited man surely would not be staying with them. At least she hoped he would not, she was not very fond of him for reasons she could not really tell. He just seemed like an incompetent fool to her, although he had not really done much to have her think so, well, apart from being incredibly jittery since they have gotten here, but so was she. But she had every reason to be! She had been feeling and seeing things, she had not thought to ever experience within a very short time. It did not help that apparently it all was tied to her new… wonderful family.

She snapped herself out of her thoughts, else she would be hearing that old hag scold her once again - how often did she do that already, she wondered. Natsuki regarded the others on the table, but no one seemed to interest her nearly as much as Shizuru. She did not know if it was for the obvious reason of her being a bit...strange - from the way she dressed to her very unique eye colour - or because she scared her... Maybe even her…beauty? Could fear make you question even that?

She shook her head softly once again, oh how she would be mocked by her old friends, if they were to see her now - scared of a girl acting like a child, clinging to the family's trust fund and otherwise not regarding anything.

Shizuru did not even seem to mind her staring, or if she did, she did not let it show. She always wore the same expression on her face, an almost nonexistent smile that was apparently only shown when the hag was present. Her eyes still were dull and missed emotion.

Her breath hitched as she finally noticed that blank look directed right at her - how could she not have noticed? She really was getting too lost in thoughts too often today.

Natsuki let her eyes wander, thus breaking the staring match that had unknowingly begun and regarded her aunt, who was silently eating her meal and did not seem to notice their interactions, or their staring, if you will call it just as it is.

"Is the food not to your satisfaction?"

Natsuki's eyes snapped to the elderly woman. "N-no, no. It's not that… I just.. I'm not all that hungry…" she looked down dejected at her plate, it was the truth she didn't have appetite, in fact she had not had one since her mother died. But today it was worse, even the smell was making her queasy.

The elderly woman stared at Natsuki for a while. Surprisingly she seemed to have taken pity on her. There was a sharp clap and the elderly man appeared in the doorway.

"Kado, bring the girl something softer on her stomach."

"Yes, mistress." And the old man, now christened, Kado shuffled off; probably to the kitchens.

"Uh... Thanks?" Natsuki bowed slightly in her chair, but it only brought her face closer to the food. She grimaced and pushed it away from her. Right now not even mayo could make food edible.

"You are welcome. In the future, please, tell us if you are unwell."

"Y-yeah. I will, promise."

"Good."

A short while later, Kado wondered back out into the dining room, he gently placed the food in front of her, it truly wasn't much but she wouldn't want it if it was. Thanking the man awkwardly, she turned and managed to nibble on some breadsticks that were in front of her.

Meanwhile, she had noticed that even if she had stopped looking at the girl, Shizuru continued to stare at her, much to her displeasure. She made a point of keeping her eyes low on the table, or the flowers, even half-heartedly studying the patterns on the cold walls.

Didn't the old woman say it was 'Rude to stare', then, why was she allowing Shizuru to do the exact same thing? Natsuki shuffled around in her chair, at this point she would have given anything to be back home… or even in her yet to be determined room.

She started to cough on some stray crumbs; covering her mouth up she reached for a cup, gulping back some water and pounding on her chest a few times clearing her voice. She looked towards the head of the table who sat, staring at her.

"E-excuse… me…" She gently coughed; dinner for her great aunt continued. Chatting with the greasy haired man in the suit; who no matter how hard she tried Natsuki could not remember the name of. But it didn't really matter considering the fact that he wouldn't be here for that much longer.

After all, he had to get back to his office or where he worked, Natsuki figured, once the day ended. At least she hoped so, she didn't really like the guy, he had neither been overly friendly, nor angry or cold to her; but still sometimes one just does not like a person for unknown reasons. So Natsuki put it down to his butt kissing.

Natsuki just continued with her very fancy dinner until the rest of the table had their plates cleared, even though she had to wait some time for them to do so, since her breadsticks were obviously faster to finish than the full-blown meal the others had before them. Shizuru stuck to staring at her throughout the whole ordeal, which did not help in the least bit to make her feel welcome, not even a bit.

She wanted to curse her aunt for not interrupting that stare from the other girl somehow; it would have even helped, had she only cleared her throat so that she could maybe send an uncomfortable look at her, trying to convert her message through it. But alas, no such luck. She had to deal with that stare until it was time to go to bed, apparently. The old hag sent them immediately into their rooms, disappearing back to whatever hole she crawled out of. Just as Natsuki wanted to speak up and ask where the hell her room was supposed to be, the old butler - Kado was his name, wasn't it? - sent her a look and a little, almost unnoticeable bow and gestured for her to follow his lead.

Huffing, she did as he wanted and followed his slow pace. She was led once again through the maze of corridors and halls, created from black marble just like everything else in the manor apart from the various doors and the random coffee tables placed against the walls from time to time. Looking up to the ceiling, she spotted old chandeliers, full of candles to spend the little light that was typical for these halls. She wondered, why they didn't just simply install electric lighting, it would be way easier than lighting up every single candle every day, or however often it was needed.

Then she shrugged, thinking it was probably because the manor was so old, that it would not withstand the process of installing everything and placing the wires and whatnots.

She nearly stumbled into the butler as he abruptly stopped in front of a door - just the very same door as every other in the house, black painted and simple. She nearly blushed, but refrained from doing so and instead opted to scratch the back of her neck softly while whispering an apology.

"This," the butler rasped, "Will be your room. You may not disturb the peace of the house after the clock has struck the tenth hour after midday, for Madam Kuga sleeps very lightly and does not want to be woken up."

Natsuki raised an eyebrow at his odd manner of speech. Honestly, couldn't people just simply say things bluntly? They all wanted to confuse her as much as possible, it seemed. Not only that but why the old fashioned way of talking, couldn't of he just said curfew is ten; don't make noise.

The man raised his cane and tapped the door directly across from hers, "This is the bathroom. It should not pose a problem to reach it, if you should be in need of reliving yourself."…Well that's one way to put it. "It is lockable from the inside, if you wish to not be disturbed." He placed his cane back onto the floor and leaned onto it. "I believe this is all that must be shown and mentioned. I bid you goodnight, Natsuki-Sama. May your rest be peaceful."

And with that, he disappeared around a corner into another corridor.

For a short moment Natsuki stood staring after the man. She was just a little confused at how fast this had transpired. And she was alone.

Alone.

Alone.

In a big, big manor.

She took out her mobile to look at her texts; there were several, from her friend Mai and one or two from Aoi, her old roommate.

They pretty much, said the same thing.

_Is it nice there?_

_How's your aunt?_

_Call me, when you get there. Ok?_

To be honest she didn't want to reply, but if she didn't Mai would quite realistically, walk all the way here.

So she just sent back.

_I'm fine. Got here safe. I had dinner, I'm going to bed._

Then shut off her phone and stuck it back in her pocket.

She looked around the deserted hallway, and almost whimpered at the lack of… heat.

She didn't feel quite alone.

It wasn't right.

She backed up towards the door; she spun and ripped the door open, slamming it behind her.

Her fingers lingered on the door, before she opened her eyes.

Her room was… It wasn't small but it wasn't huge. The floor like the rest of the mansion was black; but there were a rug of red silk laid across the floor. The room wasn't any warmer than the rest of the house but she looked at the fire that was smoldering in the fireplace. At least it wasn't as cold as it could have been.

Her bed was a regular sized, wooden bed with deep red blankets of cotton and silk. She wasn't going to live a life of luxury in this place, but she wasn't going to be uncomfortable. Pillows filled with feathers sat at the head end of the bed.

And it seemed as though all her clothes; and other items, had been delivered into her room and now waited patiently for her to unpack them.

There wasn't too much else in the room. A desk and a chair made of rich mahogany, a wardrobe and dresser, of a deep black wood and finally a large pair of doors leading out to an overgrown balcony; that looked over the woods that stretched as far as the cliffs.

Natsuki walked a little further in, and slumped down on her bed. Her hand went inside her pocket for her phone, her last means of connecting to civilization.

She sighed heavily, muttering curses under her breath as the thought of charging her phone invaded her mind. The battery wouldn't last forever, after all, so she'd have to find some way to do so, maybe she should just ask the butler about it, he seemed to be one of the... not so scary people in this house, which did not really mean all that much, considering what a lovely aunt she had. Not to mention her favourite second cousin and the only second cousin at that.

"Damn it all." she huffed, and kicked against the wooden post of the bed. It didn't hurt quite as much as she thought it would, but she still cursed herself for doing so, since now a light throb inhabited her big toe.

She let herself fall backwards onto the bed, it was quite soft and would make for a nice rest tonight, that much was assured. So she got up again while blowing a stray hair away from her face - why did she let herself fall onto it, if she would just get up again, she wondered - and grabbed her nightclothes. Then she daringly put her hand on the door handle and opened the door a crack, spying out into the hallway. She still got that feeling, that she somehow was alone but not quite so. Like some invisible force was watching her.

"What the... I'm really getting crazy.", she said to herself and with another shake of the head she pulled open the door completely and stepped outside into the cold hallway, the flames dancing across the floor and creating a little shadow play on the door to the bathroom. It disappeared as quickly as it has appeared as Natsuki closed the door and reached for the handle in front of her, she had to get ready for bed after all.

The bathroom was nothing exceptional, just your typical bathroom - it seemed to be one of the only rooms that were not as old as the manor, for it was quite modern with a shower and a separate bathtub.

Natsuki took a quick warm shower with revulsion and afterwards brushed her teeth; she finally felt the last of the acidy taste leave her mouth. As soon as she was finished, she took another of those red towels - what was it with that colour scheme, she wondered - and began to dry her hair, it wasn't that comfortable to go to sleep with dripping hair in this damn cold. She walked over into her room while still drying it, cursing the lack of electricity for her hairdryer, and stopped in front of the balcony doors, gazing outside the cold glass panes into the deep night, her breath misted the glass, and she wiped it away.

Has it really gotten dark this fast? It seemed as if her sense for time had gone off somewhere and not returned. Natsuki bunched the towel together and threw it onto the chair, too lazy to put it back into the bathroom. Besides, she had no plan to go out into that freezing hallway again tonight; at least her room was somewhat warm.

She put her phone onto the desk and decided to just go to sleep since there really was nothing else to do at this time in the manor and, even though she did not want to admit it, she did not want her aunt to scold her again, she'd had enough scolding for today.

Natsuki slipped under the covers and tried to get in a comfortable position in her bed, which ended with her sleeping on her stomach, her head turned to the side so that she may still breathe; arm underneath her pillow holding her head up. She fell asleep soon, despite the unnerving things that had happened today and the unfamiliar surroundings.

She would have to get to know these halls soon; this was after all going to be her home from now on.

OXOXOXOXO

Beautiful music was heard, sweeping over everything it could reach with its melody and its notes, putting all that came in contact with it in a slight trance that nobody wanted to neither disturb nor break. It was not clearly piano music, no, it was something similar, though all the same different, its wonderful melody repeating itself steadily, the tempo never wavering - always the same speed. It seemed inhumane.

Natsuki lay still in the bed - she must've turned and tossed about, for her feet were laid bare to the crisp air, just little warmth left in them, and that only thanks to the socks she decided to wear to bed. She listened to the music and searched in her head for the name of the instrument. She knew that she knew the word, it just did not want to leave her lips and she doubted that she would be able to fall asleep without finally knowing its name. In a way, the music fit right then and there, for the name of its creator haunted her mind, she just really was not able to grasp at it and be done with it for the night.

So she stared at the ceiling and let her mind wander a little in hopes of randomly stumbling across the word that she was not able to recall. To her dismay, her thoughts decided to stray to the melody Shizuru had played this afternoon at the piano. There were some similarities to the currently echoing one, but it still seemed to be a different song, both incredibly beautiful, but at the same time frightening and making your skin crawl unpleasantly.

Suddenly she shot up, her face being graced by a grin while she pumped a fist in the air in 'Victory!' fashion. A harpsichord, that's what it was called!

With that thought the melody was gone, replaced by dead silence. Natsuki gulped quite loudly and looked around her room - the moonlight had replaced the warm light of the fire that now was long gone and drew long shadows of branches across the floor. It was nothing out of the ordinary, yet she could not shake the feeling off, that she was being watched by something.

With a deep sigh she put a hand to her forehead and gently rubbed at it - a headache was forming. As soon as she put her hand back down onto the blanket, all hell broke loose.

Cracks started to form all around the room, each of them opening up slightly to let out a wade of steam - or was it smoke? - which was then immediately followed by a brightly shining blue light from within. It was an icy blue and so bright, that her eyes could not adjust fast enough - she was practically blind for the moment - as even more and more cracks formed, some creating larger cracks and crevices with each rumble that droned through the room. The room was all of a sudden blanketed in the light and she finally adjusted slightly to the now icy-blue surroundings. Her breath visible, and panicked; fast and full of adrenaline.

Her heart plummeted into her stomach, and said stomach seemed to lurch at the motion. It knotted itself tightly together, and despite the chill that commanded the illuminated room, she began to sweat.

Natsuki was suddenly pushed back onto the bed, her mind akin to a tsunami with all the things shooting through it, though most of it just seemed to charge towards one emotion.

Fear.

It shot through her whole being, alongside the confusion that tried to hold up with everything that was going on but in the end, it just brought up more questions in her head. Her eyes darted around the room, she tried desperately to get up or to reach anything to grab besides the blankets.

Panic.

Panic crawled up inside of her and started to charge through her whole body alongside the fear she already was feeling. She began to tremble. Her fingers felt so very cold.

Then all of a sudden another two cracks formed - directly above the bed on the ceiling, this time the light was a dark red, so dark it almost seemed to be black - but that was impossible, now was it? She did not know anymore, her thoughts just were a jumbled mess as she struggled against the invisible force that trapped her against the bed.

Two arms clawed their way out of the cracks - one from each. She stared in horror at those monstrous - DEMONIC - arms, they were black in colour and on each long, bony finger sat a razor-sharp claw. Its veins were glowing softly, a faint red creeping through the dark skin.

They came closer with each breath she took - so in a desperate and panic stricken attempt she held her breath. They still crept closer, so slow that every inch that disappeared between them, she let out untypical whimpers. When they were only a breath apart, she softly begged for help, but nothing could help her anymore.

The arms grabbed her - one the lower half of her body, the other the upper half - and she silently screamed as the talons pierced her skin and bit into her flesh.

….

She burst from her bed; sending pillow and blanket hurtling onto the floor. Her breath came out in quick heaving gasps; in, out, in, out. Saliva caught in her throat she chocked and gagged, clawing at the oxygen in the air. Her hair matted caught in a cold, cold sweat; nightshirt, drenched in the same sweat.

She coughed pathetically as her lungs finally caught hold of the air. Rolling onto her side eyes wide, vision spinning, the dots clearing. Her body tried to take in two breaths at once resulting in her eyes clenching in pain, and several coughs to rack her body.

Her throat raw, eyes watering, clenching the top of her drenched nightshirt.

"_Oh-god." _She whispered. "_I-it's fine- A dream- Bad- Bad dream.. Oh god- oh god._" She whispered in comfort to herself. A few more hacked coughs and she rolled onto her back. There was a crack.

Her head snapped to the source.

The balcony doors were open.

Fear.

It overtook her.

She leaped from the bed; dashing to the doors and slamming them closed.

Shuddered breath came from her; the only noise in the world.

A small giggle escaped her body. "What am I doing? It was just a bad dream? Right. Right, it was… Man it's cold in here." she chuckled once again in self-assuredness. A tunnel of air escaped her as her body relaxed. She walked over to the remaining cinders of the fire, grabbing a tong; she felt a little better with the hooked piece of metal in her hand, she poked at the fire. Throwing a log on it; sparks flew.

She leant backwards, clearing her throat, those dry bubbles appeared in her mouth and her tongue stuck to the roof of it.

"Maybe I should get a drink?" she muttered to herself. She walked over to her pile of luggage and rummaged for a pair of slippers and a jacket or something. The chill in the air was truly mind clearing, if that is the way you would put it.

She slipped on the slippers and her old dressing gown that she didn't know she had; till they had packed all her stuff, she was glad that she had took it rather than give it to Aoi.

She picked up her phone; placing it in her pocket and to be honest she looked longingly over to the metal tongs.

But it was stupid, who brings tongs on a midnight drink wonder. Wondering over to the door she placed a trembling hand on the handle, her mind refused to notice her body reactions to the thought of going out of the room. She sighed one last time pushing the door open.

Force of habit, she tiptoed outside and shut the door behind her. The hallway was lit up with moonlight. Cold blasted her in the face and she shivered, her sweat now making her a little colder than what she would like to be.

This was stupid she thought. She didn't even know where the kitchens were, she could get lost. But her throat called out for a sip of water, or milk, or something.

Feet treading carefully, she slowly snuck down the halls. Pillars of black marble reflected the moonlight like a deep lake of light, it highlighted the carvings on the walls and lit the way for her.

Then from behind her there was a crack, like bending wood. Then the sound of the wind became clearer; curtains fluttered.

Natsuki's stomach clenched unbelievably tight, all the hairs on her neck stood on end; she turned, her hands clutching her dressing gown like a life line.

Their hair fluttering in the wind, eyes the colour of the harvest moon and skin the colour of moonstone illuminating in the moonlight, the hair a shining silver - or gold? - Natsuki could not tell.

Eyes locked.

The girl turned to her full on; her white dress fluttering like butterflies. Natsuki could count every blink those eyes were hidden from view.

Natsuki felt her phone buzz; midnight.

She straightened her back, a sheepish uneasy smile on her face.

"S-Shizuru?..-chan?.. What are you doing out of bed?"

The girl said nothing. Her body seemed to glow under the moonlight, but not as much as her eyes. They glittered like twin Jack o Lanterns.

They came towards her; she couldn't move, she couldn't breathe. Her senses went on standby.

Her heart rolled inside her, screaming; shaking her ears with frantic thuds. Once again, her head seemed to refuse the emotions, the instinct to run. She was terrifying. A whimper caught in her mouth, it tied her tongue up and broke out of her lips, carrying its self into the air.

But her body felt as though it had been caught by an invisible net; as Shizuru came closer the net tightened and so did her lung capacity. Her heartbeat slowed and sped, it paused and thudded fearfully.

Then they were a meter apart and she was still closing in.

Eyes blazing, the colour of hell.

Shizuru's hands reached out; running up Natsuki's arms and clutching around them like a python, nails biting into her skin.

The twin lamps of hell drew closer and closer.

Then…a mumble.

It was only a whisper.

"Nat-su-ki."

Then the eyes that burnt like molten blood, disappeared.

Something warm pressed against Natsuki's lips. Instantly, Natsuki was hypnotised.

Suddenly she wasn't as cold, as before.

OXOXOXOXOXOX

_L: Now the end bit_

**S: what end? I thought that was the end… Is my brain being mush again or what?**

_L:... anyway this chapter is extra long._

**S: Extra long? So the other chapters are not going to be so long?**

_L: No I mean.. shut up, if it wasn't for me this wouldn't of been updated for a year!_

**S: That's true. Want a cookie now? I admit, I am a lazy butt when it comes to updates.**

_L: COOKIE! *Jumps and catches cookie in mouth eating happily*_

**S: *raises eyebrow* I did not even throw a cookie.**

_L: Cookies appear out of thin air for me *licks fingers* mmm good cookie._

**S: ...uh-huh. Right. I am just going to... go... away, or something.**

_L: Don't go *Clings to leg* we need to tell them we aren't going to update unless we get reviews, cause we are busy people... well I am anyway.._

**S: *Shakes leg* Well, if you don't let go *shakes leg some more* soon, I will not cooperate with you for some time! And damn, I am busy as well, with gaming.**

_L:*lets go* sure. Well, that isn't exactly urgent is it?_

**S: Thank you. Well, it may not be very urgent or something but still, I love gaming. Also, I am busy with other stuff, but that's not important now. Just wrap it up, we need to get this up, lest someone strangle you.**

_L: Ok, ok. Thank you for reading REVEIW I TELLS YA! Common Sheep. *floats off in the air.*_

**S: *Raises eyebrow again* Since when do Lions fly.. ? Whatever. We'll see you next update! *nods head***

_L: IM FLYING JOIN ME!_

**S: No. *flat-out denial***

_L: *grabs sheep and floats off*_

**S: *sighs and lets herself be dragged off.. or floated off with.. or whatever***

R&R… And you shall fly too!


	3. Chapter 3

Black and white

Heat spread from her lips outwards across her body, as if she was being electrocuted. It was as if all other senses had been turned off only the feeling of heat remained. Her heart clenched tightly in her chest, as though it did not know what to do with itself, the trembling organ struggled to beat, blood seemed to still in her body; bubbling and boiling.

She tried to breath through her nose, but all that flowed in was heated air, like steam form a kettle, or the dry heated wind from your hair dryer. Soft hair like licks of flame against her cheeks, leaving marks, burning her.

It was as though she was getting swallowed by the sun.

Her body tingled as the last of the cold disappeared from the atmosphere. Inside her closed mind the heat wafted like a newly born star.

Her lungs, heart, cheeks, toes, stomach, tongue. Burned.

Then the feeling of something akin to a comet hit her chest. Separated from the heat she fell back into her ice cold prison called her own mind.

XOXOX

Natsuki shot up in bed. Eyes wide but breath slow.

One thought flew through her mind.

_WHAT THE __**FUCK **__WAS THAT?_

Instinctively her hand flew up to her face. She didn't know what she had done. She didn't know what had happened. A dream was that what it was?

At that thought she started to calm down. Her hand relaxed slipping down her face onto the bed sheets.

"It was a dream? Of coarse it was a dream.. But why the fuck! Was I dreaming it?" she fell back wards onto her bed. "Two bad dreams in one night? Man I've got to cool down. A shower. Yeah. Shower."

Her body pulled its self up stiffly on onto her knees. Her socks were barely on, and her hair was a mess. She shuffled across the black floor the sunlight peering in on her room instantly made her feel safer. She picked up her towel and once again moved towards the bathroom.

Her throat felt sore, and she could feel the need to tip-toe everywhere. Sighing she laughed, the floor was made of marble; it wasn't going to creak. Pulling open the door to her bathroom she instantly brushed her teeth, that horrid taste in your mouth you get early in the morning, made her take extra time, just to brush the taste away.

Sliding into the shower she felt, weird there were no; absolutely No windows, in this bathroom. But she couldn't shake the feeling of her hair pricking up on her neck, or the need to always be in two foot of a towel, or some sort of clothing.

It was a matter of jumping in and out of the shower. The manor was always cold anyway, so she didn't want to be naked for any more time than she had to.

After drying her hair and getting dressed; her phone stashed away in her pocket, on silent she could just imagine the hags face if it rang during breakfast.

Oh crap, the hag!

She looked at the time on her phone. Eight am that was insane but she imagined that even now she was late for breakfast. Her body instinctively bottled down the hall, phone clutched securely in her hand. And all the while her mind screaming. _I don't even know, where I am going!_

She rounded another corner, and another and another. Slowing her pace till she was at a brisk walk, there was no use wasting energy running when she didn't know where she was going. All along the halls tall windows let light path the way, there were little to no furniture and where there was it was always rich and blended into their surroundings.

There were spaces on the walls where Natsuki supposed portraits of ancestors once stood, their out line clearly visible on the walls.

She started to slow even more the, fact that she was completely and utterly lost in a large manor, with no one around dawned on her. She didn't like it.

Backing up slightly her arm, bashed into a wall. She yelped like a wounded puppy and leapt away from it. Baking up from the wall slightly she laughed. A wall. Just a wall.

Then she felt something tugging on her shirt. Like a slow-motion movie she turned, her eyes wide. Heart beating, lungs pumping her cheats up and down, up and down. Until she came face to face with a pair of deep red eyes.

She screamed, ripping her sleeve out of the girls hand and slipping over herself trying to get away. Slamming into the wall she slid to the ground. Her wide eyes relaxed, very slightly when she realised who it was.

"Sh-shizuru-chan!" Why was this so familiar. "What-" she wasn't able to finish her sentence, a hand shot out gripping hers. Yanking her up onto her feet. _Jesus! She's strong!_

The girl looked into Natsuki's eyes not saying a word. Natsuki started to shift form foot to foot. Her eyes looking to the floor. "Uh.. Thanks?"

The girls grip on her hand relaxed, but she made no move to let go. Deep eyes peering at Natsuki. "What's wrong?" Natsuki asked.

Then the girl turned, Natsuki fell forward slightly her hands finding no where to rest but the girl in front of her, so she seemingly glomp hugged her from behind. Almost immediately she turned red and had an uncomfortable itch overcoming her body, like every time she unwillingly came into body contact with someone she did not know well.

"Uh! Uhm - I was.. I just..! I didn't mea - " her mouth shut instantly as she felt Shizuru's hands gripping her own, accepting the rather awkward hug and even leaning slightly back into it. Natsuki's mind was reeling, her skin tingling in a not so comfortable way even though the hands that now covered her own were warm, unlike the rest of everything that surrounded her in this mansion.

Shizuru as a whole was incredibly warm, now that she thought about it - even though she only wore that thin dress and decided to skip the shoes today as well.

She herself in comparison was fully clothed and still felt somewhat cold in the manor.. it really made her wonder, how she managed that. Then she snapped out of her little stupor and once again tried to free herself.

"Shizuru-chan.. uhm.. could you.. maybe... let go of my hands? I.. I'm not.. really.. ?" And again she was interrupted, because Shizuru decided to turn around so that she could face her. Those deep burgundy eyes almost seemed to sparkle as she gazed into them. She almost felt... lost.. in them. As if she plunged into a deep, deep hole and would fall into the very depths of the earth - and the deeper she got, the brighter everything seemed to become. Natsuki did not know what was happening, she was just so warm and so.. so.. there was no way to describe it, really.

She shook her head, some strands tickling her face as she did so, to try and get out of another stupor she seemed to experience here with Shizuru. It did not help at all that she was now almost being hugged like.. like some kind of lover by said girl. It just made her urge to flee and disappear into her room greater.

She swallowed and slowly blinked, while trying to forget the uncomfortable situation for at least a minute so that she would be able to get out of the hug. She did the most logical thing that came to her mind.

She began to struggle and wiggle around.

Shizuru, not expecting that kind of reaction, loosened her grip a little which allowed Natsuki to 'break free' from the evil hug, although she did that so violently that she nearly threw herself into one of those coffee tables that stood in the hallways at random. But she managed to slam one hand against the wall, thus halting her successfully and saving the table. She'd never live it down if her grandaunt would find out - and she definitely would somehow, she seemed like one of those all-knowing sort of relatives that everyone has somewhere. Didn't make it any less annoying.

She straightened her self and managed to actually face Shizuru without a blush covering her cheeks, which surprised the both of them. At least Natsuki got out of the hug, and thus got rid of the awkward and uncomfortable feeling she had gotten. She finally felt as if she could breathe again, although she could not remember when she would have lost said breath.

The girl once again reached out grabbing three of Natsuki's fingers in a light warm hold.

An embarrassed laugh broke between her lips. Eyes looking up anywhere but the girl who she had, had this weird back hug with. "WELL…Well, maybe we- sh-should go to breakfast." the same laugh once again fluttered out. "Do you think, you can let go?.. Please?" She tried to wave her hand out of the warm grasp on her fingers.

"I- well I-.. not-one f-for.. Touch-" She felt her body twist as she was suddenly let go of, sending her reeling back. Natsuki squeaked out a sound of surprise, as she felt gravity do its thing. Before the warmth over took her hand and she once again she was yanked forward.

She tripped a little but managed to keep her balanced, as she was dragged along the corridors.

"Wait! Your going-" She tripped once again a "oomph" fell from her mouth as she caught herself. "Too-fast!"

Like a compass the girl dragged her down each maze like hall way unfaltering. Door after door they passed, down a flight of stairs that looked off into what seemed like a huge ballroom. Despite herself Natsuki couldn't help but mutter. "Jesus.." In awe of the great hall she was led over. Once again disappearing into the maze like hallways.

Swerving and turning till finally they found themselves in front of a huge door. The abrupt halt in the girls foot steps once again sent Natsuki into the girl, once again arms wrapped around her.

As if burnt she leapt back "S-sorry."

The girl stared with big hollow eyes at the door. Once again taking no notice of Natsuki. The abrupt change in attitude startled her. "Uh.. Hello, we in the right place?….. Hello?" Timidly she reached out to lightly shake her shoulder, when the sharp crack of a cane, hit her on the wrist.

"Do not touch people, without permission."

Natsuki stared at the old hag with shocked eyes. Where in the hell had she come from, did she live in the marble. She retracted her hand rubbing her wrist, a red blotch forming on it already.

Her teeth clenched in a angry manner, she turned towards the old woman. Thinking back to some of those old romance films Mai liked to watch, she bowed lightly.

"Good morning, Grandaunt. And yes it wont happen again." Surprisingly the woman did not pick up on the slight sarcasm in her voice.

"See too it, that it doesn't." The old woman's Hawke like green eyes, turned to Shizuru and softened, in a way Natsuki thought was impossible. "Good morning, Shizuru my love. Did you sleep well?"

The young girl bowed and stepped aside, allowing the elderly woman to walk past rather briskly, for her age. Allowing Shizuru to follow after her and Natsuki, shortly after.

Kado appeared beside the head of the house, as the old woman slid into her chair. He placed her breakfast before her. Bowing and then going to Shizuru to do the same.

"Do you feel better today?"

Natsuki snapped out of her daze and locked eyes with the hag. "Uh.. Y..yeah? Kinda."

"I had Kado prepare you a smaller breakfast just in case."

Natsuki looked at the table in slight embarrassment. She still wasn't a hundred percent but, and the western breakfast they were having did not appeal to her at the time. Still she felt rude to turn down the food, but she really didn't want to eat it.

"Uh.. Yeah thank.. You. That would be better… Please." And Kado disappeared into the side door. Towards what must be the kitchen.

As they sat at the table, an uncomfortable silence made it's presence known. Natsuki did not know what to think of it, or of those.. strange looks her dear cousin had been shooting her way at times when she thought no one would notice. Just the clutter of cutlery was creating some sound, as if to let the people in the room know 'Hey, you are not alone, the others are still alive here as well, so you better behave yourself!' or something along those lines. Natsuki had to let a tiny smile show itself on her face, because that sentence rang in her head in her grandaunts annoying voice - she could just imagine the scolding she'd receive for misbehaving in some way at the table.

Shizuru drew a look from her as she sighed, and it did not sound happy either. So she was not the only one, who did not like such very awkward situations apparently. She only wondered, why no one else thought it strange that the.. uhm.. suited man who's name she did not know was not present today. It did not seem as if he had been packing up yesterday, or prepared to go somewhere.. it was just all adding to the undeniably awkward atmosphere in the dining room. Especially that her aunt did not want to talk about his disappearing act. Maybe he should join some circus with that one.. it could become huge. But despite her own efforts at raising her mood, she did not have to grin at that. Somehow, the man just did not sit well with her, so she kind of did not mind it all that much, that he was gone now. One less person to be all weird around her, she thought.

"You are staring at Shizuru again. If you keep doing that, I will have to do something about that, child." Madam Kuga rasped and surprised Natsuki, causing her to jump a little in her seat.

"A-ah... I'm.. sorry..?" she scratched her cheek, it came out more as a question than an actual apology. A tiny blush crept onto her cheeks as well - how often would she get caught staring off at something.. mostly at Shizuru? Why did that girl always have to sit across from her, it was no wonder she ended up staring at her!

Natsuki trembled in slight anger. It wasn't even her fault! The girl sat across from her! What was she gonna do? Glue her eyes to the ground?

She shot up from the table, her hands crunching the table cloth tightly. She slowly relaxed her fingers and sent a large fake smile at her great aunt.

"Excuse me for a moment I have just remembered I needed to ask… Kado something." without waiting for a answer, she bounced off the table trying to slingshot herself over to the servants entrance. She quickly padded towards the door, almost flinging herself down the stairs.

That damn old woman! Was becoming insufferable. Seriously! She angrily stomped her way down the black staircase watching the glowing orange and yellow lights becoming stronger.

She pushed back the fishnet certain that stopped bugs getting in, and stumbled towards the middle of the kitchen.

"..Hello?.. Kado-san? You here?" Standing still in the steaming kitchen as pots and saucepans hissed and bubbled. She felt as though she was a child sneaking into the kitchen late at night, trying to steal something sweet.

"Hello? Kado-san?" she spun around eyes darting to the sharp knifes and other kinds of… cooking instruments? Laying about on the grey counter tops.

A hand grasped hold of her arm spinning her around. The hand froze her inside and out, it was as if a skeleton had grasped hold and would not let go.

She whipped her head making eye contact with weepy blue eyes. She forced a small smile on to her face although this was more caused by her almost swallowing of her tongue. Her sigh of relief when she realised who she was- no relief was the wrong word. She slightly relaxed at the sight of someone she knew, but her heart still bounced off her ribs further bruising the already battered organ.

Once again nervous laughter, left her gasping back in whatever oxygen she had lost. "Uh.. Well.. I- c-could you let go…" It was not a question she was already shaking the man off her arm putting distance between them. Reluctant, Kado let her go.

"Thank you." She sighed and cleared her throat nervously. "So.. uhm.." for a second she thought about what she was going to say, but then she suddenly pulled out her phone with a little 'Oh yeah!' and showed it to the butler, who seemed to have received a minor heart attack from her outburst. "Kado-san, is there a way I could recharge my phone sometime soon? It's kind of.. dying on me."

He stared at her for some seconds, then his eyes shifted to her phone, and back to her again while his mouth set itself into a grim line. Why did old people always have to look so negative, she asked herself silently.

"Mh.. I believe this manor may be to ancient for a device such as this to be.. 'charged' ..but at the same I do also believe that there may be something of use on the first floors parlour." He paused to take some ragged breaths, he wasn't a spring chicken after all. "I shan't make you any promises, young lady, you will have to see for yourself if there is something for your device."

"Uh... thank you, Kado-san." And with that, he turned back to what he had been doing before, leaving her to find the way to the parlour of the first floor alone. Natsuki sighed, and decided to disturb the old man again since she was kind of lost in the manor without anyone to guide her.

"What is it that you still desire of an old man such as I?" She was surprised as his voice sounded, but also thankful because she actually had no idea how to initiate another conversation. Though his tone of voice could have been a little friendlier.

"Ah. Well.. it's just.. I have no clue where the, uhm, parlour on the first floor is. You know, I kind of just moved in here yesterday and all?" she scratched the back of her neck while talking to him, he somehow made her feel very nervous. Maybe it was because of his weepy gaze? Or maybe just because he was an old man who seemed to punish her without reluctance in some way if she would be disrespectful to either him or the Madam. Or maybe even to Shizuru. Where was she anyway?

"Fine then, do follow me, young lady. And do stay close to me, lest you dwindle away while I turn a junction of hallways, which would not be desirable for you, I imagine." And with that, he left the kitchen, supported by his crane that seemed to mysteriously have appeared in his hand. Wait, did she just imagine that smoke coming from said cane? She shook her head. I bet those dreams are still messing with my damn head.

She also couldn't shake the strange smell that seemed to waft through the kitchen at that moment. She almost gagged, her body bent over hand covering mouth. As she swallowed trying to wipe away the smell that seemed only stronger as the old man walked past. He didn't smell that way yesterday, did he?

Hastily stepping out of the kitchen, she followed the old man, the tap, tap, tap. Of his cane on the cold floor fitted the atmosphere around him. His old wrinkled face and pale oily features. It was as though the man should be in a warm bed, reading and puffing on his pipe.

"So… uh how long have you been here for?"

The old mans pace slowed his pale eyes darting back to hers in some sort of annoyed stare. Feeling even more awkward than when it was silent, Natsuki scuffed her feet on the floor slightly, the slow, shaky steps of the old man the only noise.

A shaky sight echoed throughout the black hallway. "A long, long time."

Natsuki wasn't a child. Her face twitched annoyed. If he didn't want her to know, he should of just stayed silent. That vague response only encouraged curiosity.

This bloody hallway… no this freaking maze was more like a labyrinth. Or maybe a few hundred labyrinths mashed together, into one huge pile of annoyance.

Twists and turns.

Down a few hundred stairs, and they finally came to a small room. There were about six fridges all lined up and humming in sync. There were tall shelves stacked with jars and containers, cans and bottles. The old man seemed to pull himself over to the last of the fridges.

"Use the plug from this one. There is nothing in here. In fact it just serves to cause trouble for us."

Natsuki made her way around the elderly man. Bending over to check the plug. "Yeah. This'll be fine thanks."

"Very well then."

For a few small moments Natsuki lent over, she could swear she heard a rustling.

"Hey do you hear any.." but the old man was gone. Crap how was she going to get back. Crap. Crap.

"Well tah for that." Her sarcasm not lost. "Fucking butler."

She sighed after some seconds while mumbling something under her breath and finally pulling out her phone, putting it on.. something nearby? She turned around, looking at the room and seriously questioning whoever put the furniture in the room - seriously, six fridges? In a goddamn parlour? Who the hell thought of that nutty idea? Especially since there was nothing else in here, not even a chair or a table or something! So she had to resort to putting the phone on the floor near the plug for now while she put her other hand in another pocket of hers in which she normally carried her charger when going somewhere.

Only to have her hand come into contact with nothing. She apparently forgot her charger in her room. Shit.

Natsuki cursed under her breath again and kicked with all her might against one of the fridges. Of course she then jumped and hobbled around on one foot, the other one being held by her hands which rubbed at the now sore toes. While hobbling around she tripped on something - probably the edge of one of the six fridges, she still could not get it in her head, six! - thus she fell face first onto the floor, but she was able to put her arms out in time so she did not really kiss the floor. She just.. embraced the ground and all its dusty goriness'.

"Goddamnit, what else is gonna happen!" she said to herself as she straightened herself up so that she kneeled on the floor. Immediately she was overcome by a coughing fit, all the dust wanting to invade her lungs. Tears started to gather in her eyes because she was almost hacking her brains out - at least it felt like that to her. But after some endless seconds she stopped coughing and took a deep breath.

Only to be disturbed by a sneeze.

"Well fuck you too, dust." she grumbled and tried to glare at said dust, though it certainly did not mind it in the least. She now stood up completely while dusting her knees and elbows off and then made her way to the door. She did not have another choice, she would have to go out and try to find her way around somehow.

Natsuki put her hand on the door handle and pushed the door open while she was shaking her head, her eyes closed for a second. She did not make it far into the manor, for her journey instantly halted as she crashed into someone else who had apparently been waiting at the door, so she was once again thrown to the floor since she did not expect that to happen.

"Oh son of a bi -" she stopped mid sentence as her gaze landed on bare feet, seeming white against the dark floor. "Shizuru-chan?" she asked, dumbfounded, and blinked rapidly before she looked up into wonderful burgundy eyes.

"Uh?.. Hey? Wait where did you come from?.. You know what never mind. What's the matter?"

The girl just stared at her with big hollow eyes. Avoiding her gaze Natsuki scooped herself up off the floor; bringing half the worlds dust with her.

"Well.. Actually do u think you can do me a favour? You see I need to get back to my room.. Then back here again. I need to charge my phone." Shaking the device in her hand, showing Shizuru. "So you think you can he-"

Her eyes went down to the girls hands. In them was a long thin wire. Her charger!

"Where did you get that?" Natsuki stared at the girl. Even though she knew by now, the girl wasn't exactly the most… conversational of people.. Or would that be sociable. Though she seemed to have no problem with people.

Then realisation dawned on her. If Shizuru had her charger. Then that meant. "Shizuru-chan. Did you go in my room?"

Locking eyes was about the only conformation Natsuki got. She shuffled backwards a little. Either the girl was a freaking mind reader. Or she had gone in there to go through Natsuki's things, Natsuki had no secrets in her luggage.. Well except form her excessive amount lingerie. So there was no reason to go through it.

So in other words..

There was no **other **words!

The girl had been in **her** bedroom, and gone through **her** stuff!

Either one of the two options was weird. And- no not weird a little freaky. If not scary! No matter how seemingly calm and beautiful, a young teenager -hell young woman- should know better! Holy hell!

Clearly the other girl saw the shift of emotions across her eyes, and held out the charger. As if giving it back was going to make it any less weird.

Worst thing was Natsuki couldn't yell or scream at her. She couldn't push her away or do anything. Because Shizuru was very, very obviously the favourite. If the girl suddenly found her voice and went crying to Natsuki's dear great aunt.. Natsuki would be..

That didn't stop the way she jolted backwards as soon as the girl pushed her arms forwards. Slowly as if going to touch a dog or a large animal for the first time, Natsuki tenderly took the charger back. The smile on her face anything but grateful.

Stumbling backwards into the parlour, her feet almost tripping over each other she, practically dashed to where the plug was, fiddling fingers as she tried to push the charger into the socket, wishing she could swear. But she could only imagine how much of a beating she would get for doing that in fount of the girl.

Now that they were alone, it seemed as though, Shizuru had no shame in starting at the flustered Natsuki. Her eyes were glued to Natsuki's back, and she could **feel **them crawling over it. The plug hole seemed to have shrunken as Natsuki tried to jam the plug in; growing more and more frustrated. She let out a slight growl.

The sound of feet pattered towards her, and instantly she halted, her persistent wreaking of her charger. She felt a pressure on her back. A hand. More accurately Shizuru's hand. Honey coloured hair slithered past her shoulder, and the girl reached over cupping Natsuki's hand.

Natsuki couldn't hide the nervousness, her hands were sweaty and shaking, her eyes fluttering from the younger girls face to her hand and back again, the way her teeth seemed to clench tightly and even her breathing gave it away.

Shizuru slowed her hand, almost hesitating, her touch warmer than ever, and it was gentle. But she could have had the hands of Natsuki's dead mother and she would still find the girl scary as Freddy Kruger.

The charger clicked into place, snugly and Natsuki heard the beep form her phone as a signal. But still the girl would not let go of her hand.

Natsuki nearly jumped out of her skin as she felt a hand slide up against her back - she was still leaning over her phone and had been staring it down, trying to get it to charge faster - finally giving into the pressure she shook the girl off, whipping around so fast, that she once again fell over. Today just really wasn't her day, was it? She sighed, it would be a really awesome time she would spend here with all the jumping around and falling over.. and the dreams.. and the strange butler.. practically with everything. Didn't help that everything just HAD to be creepy in some weird way.

But anyway. She once again sat on the wonderful, dusty floor of the parlour and stared up at Shizuru, who's face looked as if she had zoomed in on Natsuki's, literally a breath away, her hair falling down in a silky curtain. One of the girls hands was in front of her mouth, her eyes a tiny bit more opened - she probably also did not expect Natsuki to react this badly. It was then, that something so normal, yet so out of place happened, that shocked the both of them.

Shizuru gave something akin to a giggle, albeit much more hollow - no, hollow was not the right word - drained.

Was there even something such as a drained giggling? It really sounded like that, a giggle drained from it's energy.. or just rusty from years of not being used.

Natsuki's cheeks reddened just a little bit as she grumbled and picked herself up once again. This time she did not even bother to wipe the dust off of herself, she would most likely only go and make out with the floor again in some minutes, so to speak. What her roommate and her best friend would think, if they were to see her here, all jittery and jumping at the tiniest things. She sighed deeply, missing the both of them. Was it really too much to ask for someone normal in this goddamn house? The dude in the suit was the only one who was the most normal, but he kind of... disappeared. Natsuki still wondered, where in the hell he went. The car drove off about an hour after their arrival - she could tell because she had heard the engine yesterday.. or at least an engine, but really.. in this house was not really anything that would make some noise that sounds like some motor engine. So.. she just kind of assumed it was the car. Anyway.. it just meant that he either was still here somewhere and played hide-and-seek with the butler and her grandaunt - now THAT was a hilarious thought! - or he just simply went home by foot. Which seemed highly unlikely, since the manor was kind of in the middle of nowhere, so he'd probably have to walk for hours to get somewhere.

Natsuki blinked rapidly as some dust flew up in front of her and nearly into her eyes, and she heard the sound of someone shuffling to sit down. Seriously, HOW much dust was in this freaking room? Hadn't she kind of cleaned all the dust with all falling around already? She coughed softly and then just simply stared.

Shizuru sat in front of her, cross-legged, on the cold floor. She smiled that tiny smile that she always had on her face. That emotionless smile. And she stared at Natsuki. She did not even want to ask herself what was up with all the strange staring and smiling. She just.. accepted it somewhat, it just made for less headaches.

"Uh.." she scratched the back of her neck, trying to come up with.. SOMETHING to talk about, "...soo. How'd you end up here?"

"..." Shizuru smiled at her and just cocked her head a little to the side.

"...never mind." Natsuki sighed. Was it really so much to ask for a normal conversation, or normal people.. or normal rooms? It seemed so…

Suddenly Shizuru leaned forward a little and raised her hand, reaching for.. Natsuki's phone? The hell? She looked at it, absolutely fascinated and softly let the fingers of her other hand stroke over the display. She cocked her head to the other side and her eyes slowly looked up and into Natsuki's.

"Uhm.. that.. kind of is.. my phone. So.. you know.. please be careful? I still need.. it..?" Her sentence ended up more as a question, as Shizuru took her hand and raised it, palm facing up, so that she could put the cell into her hand. Then she softly closed Natsuki's hand around it and shot her a rather questioning look.

What in the world is going on now? And why can't I stop looking into her eyes? Natsuki asked herself, she really was not able to take her eyes off of Shizuru's. Sure, she has an ridiculously unique eye colour, but it simply cannot be just because of that! Oh never mind.. her hands are ridiculously soft.. wait, what? Not the time to think about that.. actually, who cares? Not like I've got anything else to do, I gotta wait for my phone to charge fully.. if I go out of this room, I'll never find ba..

Shizuru raised an eyebrow slightly as Natsuki's grip on her phone suddenly and she started to grin as if she just got a bucket of candy. Does Natsuki like candy?

"Shizuru-chan, I have a wonderful idea!" she practically shot up while simultaneously grabbing the other girls hand, dragging her up on her feet as well. "could you, like.. maybe show me around a bit? Maybe to the library? ..if there is one here, but who am I kidding, this freaking house is so huge, there's just gotta be one.." She mumbled the last part.

Now.. Natsuki was not that much of a fan of being stuck with Shizuru because.. frankly, Shizuru was fucking creepy as hell.. but it was better than being practically forced to sit here in the dust and wait for her phone to charge.. so why not let herself be shown around?

The paler girl seemed to be surprised that she came up with such an idea, her eyes were wide open, the eyebrows climbing higher onto her forehead. Well, it's kind of understandable.. Natsuki had been awfully jittery around her, so for her to suddenly want to be around her - in some kind of twisted logical way - was quite unexpected.

But this sudden wave of expression quickly past and the stony half smile flooded onto her face once more. But her hands clenched tighter around Natsuki's own, in a possessive clench. The sudden pressure was painful for a few moments, before she felt herself being pulled forward led by her hands.

One thought on her mind.

Oh god! Not again!

It was almost as if the girl had wound their fingers together and tied knots in them, because no matter how much Natsuki shook her hand the girl did not let go. Once again the twin hallways blurred past the two girls, Natsuki felt a little naked without her phone. She put it down to the fact that she had never had to go without a phone since she was seven years old; when her mother had really started to work fulltime again for real.

Natsuki didn't exactly how to hold hands. She had never had to. Lacing fingers and conjoined palms. All in all it was uncomfortable, and it wasn't as if the girl was taking her for a nice stroll, well not as if you walked at like twenty miles per hour. Cause that's what the girl seemed to be doing.

"Look would you just slow- whoa!" Why was it whenever tried to put up resistance, she fell over?

As the hallway widened and lit up, Natsuki steeled herself for the stop, that would probably send her launching forward into yet another embarrassing situation. But instead felt them slowing down slightly, Shizuru letting go of their hands, but not without dragging her fingers over Natsuki's palm, who shivered, and snatched her hand away as if Shizuru was made of fire.

In front of them was another set of large doors, only on these ones were the most beautiful wooden carvings of a wood setting, wolves once again made an appearance, baying staring up at the wooden moon. The handle looked like a bundle of roots all woven and threaded together, in a mixture of different shades of brown.

Shizuru ran her fingers over the door handle, curiosity on her face; even though Natsuki was sure the girl had seen the doors at least once before.

Natsuki stood there for a moment watching as the strange girl, traced the figures on the doors.

"Uh.. Is this the library?"

Blank eyes turned towards her.

Was that a yes?

Well.. even if this wasn't the library.. it would be some new part of the manor that she would have to get to know sometime.. she definitely did not want to be depending on everyone else when she wanted to go to the goddamn toilet without getting lost on the way there - or on the way back, whichever it was.

For reasons unknown to her, Natsuki gulped and took a deep breath before she took a step forward so that she now stood beside Shizuru, careful not to touch her. She sent a shaky little smile, if you want to call it that, to the other girl and waited a little until the paler of the two finally retracted her hands, the carvings on the door now seemingly forgotten. Her red eyes still stared at her, the same unnerving stare that had Natsuki's guts cramping up in a way she did not think possible.

Shizuru's hands placed themselves on the handle, pressing down and.. that was it. She did not open the door immediately, instead she continued to gaze into Natsuki's eyes. Natsuki could swear that she saw something flickering in the other girls eyes, something she couldn't pinpoint. Questioning emerald eyes bore into ruby, the time around them standing still.

A blink and the spell would be broken. And to be honest Natsuki wasn't sure if she wanted it to end or not. The world around them was quiet, but Natsuki couldn't help but think that the old hag would pop up out of the floor at any moment.

The sound of the squeaking door handles as Shizuru pushed them down, eyes still on Natsuki; who pointedly looked away. These weird feelings.. Was it even right to call them feelings? She was confused that's for sure. And her head hurt, that was another thing to be sure of.

But thinking made her head hurt even more.

As the wooden doors opened, she could almost feel as if this is what Alice felt when she entered wonderland.

Tall bookcases embedded in dark marble. High ceiling, decorated in the style of a western royal family. The same said beauty stretched down the walls and to the floor that held ornate engravings. Natsuki could make out worn words of old poems. And in the centre the Kuga crest in all its majesty. Cold grey light flowed in through the windows, the dusky dream like atmosphere drew patterns on the walls of soft curves of marble.

Natsuki could only stand in wonder as her breath caught in her throat as she tried to express her wonder, coming out as a squeak. "Wow.."

This was impressive even Natsuki had to admit, this kind of collection of books was rather incredible; there must have been over a thousand books in just what she had seen so far, in one brief look.

"I wonder how old some of them are…" she voiced walking as if on alto pilot over to one side of the room, her fingers finding the spine of the books brushing some of the thick dust off them.

Some had names some did not.

At least she knew she wouldn't be bored here.

A warm hand once again made contact with her cold arm. Seriously what is with all the touching? Pulling her over to the side Natsuki watched as the book, slowly passed. History, love stories, poems, books about travel, and religion, of battles and heroes.

Slowly the titles became darker.

There seemed to be a large number of strange books.

Ranging from witch hunting, to information on how to repel vampires and raise the dead. Shacking free of the grasp Natsuki walked over to a small section on magic circles. Volumes of spells and enchantments. Who believes this kind of crap?

These books were even older and dust had began to pile upon dust, the thick layer making the titles almost impossible to see.

Pulling one out she opened it, dust flew up in to the atmosphere; but more importantly right into Natsuki's face.

She coughed wildly waving her hands around franticly. "Jesus." she coughed.

Closing the book she placed it back on the shelf. And felt a small hand clasp hold of her shirt, rather tightly, she felt the hand slowly move along the hem, tugging gently.

Natsuki sighed and wondered what she did to deserve all this. First she gets basically thrown into this house, then she meets her creepy cousin and that very nice aunt of hers, both of which are just weird as fuck in their own ways. And her cousin just could not stop touching her for the love of god!

She grabbed Shizuru's hand, a shiver running over her body as she did so, and pried it off of her shirt as softly as she could.. which was not all that soft, but never mind that.

Surprisingly the girl did not back down her other arm shooting up tightly gripping her prying hand, and lifted it to her face pushing her head against it, other hand now tightly snagged on Natsuki's shirt, as her index finger started to slowly stroke her waist.

Emerald eyes rolled, the owner releasing another sigh - this time a frustrated one and tried not to shiver upon the contact of that silky soft skin against her hand. It did not annoy her as much as she thought it would, it kind of was like petting a dog, they also always pushed their head into your hand. At least they always did that to her.

But what freaked her out was the fact, that Shizuru also touched her waist. Touching her hands was still uncomfortable, but acceptable somewhat. Touching her waist or another part of her body however? Forget it, absolutely not acceptable. No way in hell. Her other hand tightly gripped the wandering fingers, squeezing them in hopes of vanquishing the evil that was her second cousins touch.

Natsuki's hand was made to slide slowly down Shizuru's face, a pink tongue came out licking soft lips, red eyes becoming increasingly darker and darker. As Shizuru dispensed a kiss onto the palm of Natsuki's hand. But it did not stop there, a swift lick tracing the lines on her palm.

Alright, NOW she was really getting freaked out and even pissed, who the hell did that girl think she was to just randomly come up, snatch her hand and start making out with it. And if that wasn't weird enough, she could swear Shizuru was also pulling her closer against her, or was it really just her imagination this time?

Natsuki tried again to free her hand, pulling quite desperately but nothing happened. It was such an iron grip even though it actually felt somewhat comfortable.. apart from the licking and kissing part of course. A cold sweat was even starting to make itself known on her forehead and another shiver ran up her spine.

"S-STOP IT!"

A rush of adrenalin, soared though Natsuki. She reacted quickly pushing forwards with all her might sending shizuru backwards into another book shelf.

She pushed herself away from the scene, but she had not taken more than a few steps before a hand once again grappled her waist and slung her backwards against the wall.

Engulfed by the heat that was shizuru, Natsuki could only gape as the younger girl dragged a hand from her waist, up. Lightly bushing her just below her bra. Her other hand pawing at Natsuki's waist. Finger sliding did nothing to distract Natsuki as the girl hovered above the hollow of her throat hot breath puffing onto it.

Natsuki gulped, her eyes practically ripped wide open with fear. She now really was afraid of Shizuru, a step up from being creeped out.. a bad step up. She whimpered, quite pathetically to be honest, and squirmed around, trying to break free still. Each puff of air that hit her throat seemed to be freezing the blood in her veins, but it burned so very much upon her skin.. she could not decide if Shizuru's breath was cold as ice, or hot as hell.. she just could not tell.

Her mind went a hundred miles per hour, her eyes shooting from the crown of chestnut coloured hair to a shadow that fell on the floor and over the paler girl's shoulder and back the hair again. Her gut was clenching again and cramping up, her hands stuck to her sides - frozen in fear.

It got worse as suddenly something wet slid against the skin of her throat, making her knees buckle, but definitely not because she was enjoying it, oh hell no. Her mind just went on holiday, she couldn't believe what was going on.. it was just too much. Too much touching, too much dust, too much tripping and stumbling around all day, too much weird stuff.. simply too much.

Natsuki's entire body heaved trying to suck in air, but it all felt dry and she could barely breath. The lips drew closer as did the hands weaving themselves into fabric.

Then,

Lips.

Teeth.

Tongue.

They made contact biting harshly into skin.

Natsuki's hands clenched like vices around the arms of her aggressor.

Her shirt was being pulled and pushed upwards and the teeth still were sunk into the hollow of her neck. She almost hissed in pain but the fear that surrounded her chilled her to the bones and she could only stand and stare at the darkness as Shziuru's blazing red eyes flashed in and out of her vision.

And the heat was all around her like a ferniest. It burnt, sweat dripping, lungs and heart pumping.

She heard lips and the ruffling of fabrics. But it was as if she was not there, she was floating just outside her own body. She felt as though the blood seeping out of the wound on her neck was not hers. As though the sweat and heat and sounds we not real.

**Oh dear god.**

**You cant let this happen!**

Her brain screamed at her.

**Move! Damn you move!**

It was almost as if she could almost hear every heartbeat, sound, touch. It was terrifying. Truly terrifying. Her mind was trying to get her into action, trying to get her to do something.. but it just wouldn't happen - what was going on? It felt like a spell had been spoken, one to keep her from breaking free of this unwanted grasp, this unwanted embrace that was meant for lovers, but was being so abused as of now.

Lovers?

Suddenly it all stopped - the heat, the sounds, the embrace, even her thundering heart seemed to have stopped.

Wintriness.

Natsuki felt a chill running up her spine once again as she somehow managed to break free - her mind had gotten through to her brain as that one word fell, and she had ripped herself free from Shizuru's grasp without even really noticing. She was just so set on escaping whatever was happening, instincts taking her over.

And again, the time seemed to stop as she saw the red-eyed beauty stumble backward a little, followed by reaching her hand out toward Natsuki with a look on her face that reeked of urgency, of a need to help - to protect, the predator gone from her eyes. Just as sudden as the slowing time seemed to occur, the effect wore off, time running normal again before her eyes just to feel the effect of a ladder tumbling and falling onto her head, knocking her out almost instantly.

XOXOXO

If worlds had a voice, this one would be one of loneliness. It would echo with a hollow thrum. The flattering of birds wings as they swooped past the tall windows. The cry of a lonely raven breaking through the silence. And if in all the world you could find a room that sung of the caged imprisonment of the soul, you would have to look no further than a bird cage.

It was so wrong to feel this imprisoned in a room - her own room at that. Why could she not be out there and be with the birds? To soothe that ravens loneliness, and her own?

She ran towards the windows, banging on them with the desperation of a trapped fly, clawing at the windows.

Desperately she tried it again and again, always a step more to break the windows, or at least try to. First the clawing, then she banged with her fists against it, afterward her shoulder was thrown against the window, over and over and over. Without success.

She felt like an insect that has been accidentally trapped inside a room, everywhere windows showing the outside world, where one belongs.. but no chance to get to it, only the torture of seeing it in all its glory.

Then she felt the warmth of something wet on her neck. But she was alone there was no one around. Putting her hand to the back of her neck she felt the same wet substance coat her fingers….

She pulled her hand before her eyes, but could only see something slightly coloured coating her fingers. There was not enough light to be able to see exactly what it was, so she took another step to the window, pressing herself against it as well as her hand, to try and get as much light as possible. What she saw astounded her so much, that her mouth fell open, a hushed "What in the world.." still able to break free.

Was that.. was that blood? But.. but why did it not freak her out? It's colour seemed a little messed up, though.. was it because of that?

Another splat and Natsuki spun around. On the floor was a spider, dead? No, dying. Its legs twitching as its life ebbed away. She walked towards it. Its blood was the same colour as...

Startled she backed away from the dying spider and instantly tripped on something.. but there was nothing in here a few moments ago!

A boot.. or more accurately a shoe, lay right in front of her. Its leather a shiny black, hard and new, its tip was engraved with small markings. Whoever it belonged to had to have some serious money.

She took some steps closer to the shoe after she managed not to fall flat on her butt after tripping on it. It was dark, the light falling in from the window not helping - it was too weak.. and she also threw a shadow herself, since the window was now located behind her, the light mostly illuminating her backside. She gulped, trying to get the fear that bubbled up inside of her to disappear again - wanting it to go away again with all her might despite only being faced with a damn shoe that mysteriously appeared in this closed off room.

She extended her foot as far as she could and softly poked at the shoe with her toes. It moved a little, as expected. Alright, so the shoe was just a regular shoe.. with some marking on the front that was not supposed to be there. Maybe a dog got it and had been chewing on it or something? It would be possible.. wouldn't it?

Natsuki took another step closer and pushed the shoe with her foot to the window, to get a better look at it. Her skin was crawling all over, itching softly as if something was crawling on it, but there was nothing - she had checked. Still, it made her shudder and almost had her throw her shoulder against the window once more in hopes of escaping this lonely cage. She put her hand to the window, her palm pressed against it, with a sigh. Why her?

She slid it off the pane again and nearly jumped as she looked at it - now there was, uhm.. spider blood smeared on it. She had forgotten to wipe it clean on her jeans or somewhere else, as long as it was not on her freaking hand! She did just that and then finally, with another deep sigh, began to study the shoe.

So, it really was just this normal - okay, not normal but rather goddamn expensive - shoe with those strange marks on it. No big deal.

If one could forget the shape of those markings and the fact, that they seemed to be dyed in the same colour as.. that spider blood. She shuddered again, this time visibly and rubbed her arms, trying to get the chill away from them as well as the itching that had once again begun. It felt as if some real spiders were crawling all over her.. it was disturbing. Absolutely disturbing.

Normally Natsuki had no fear of bugs and insects.. sure, she was not fond of them, but she did not freak out because some insect was crawling on the table or a spider was on the wall. But for some reasons it was not like that this time. She feared that some insect would fly into her face at any moment, and it scared her, scared her so much that she had even gotten a little paranoid and started looking at every little shadow that moved.

She shot another glance at the shoe, and something shimmered inside the shoe. Curious she looked closer at it and gripped it with a hand to tilt it and look what was inside. Whatever had caught the light dropped out of it - or rather, dripped.

It was blood. Normal blood, this time. Red, like roses and like...

"Shizuru-chan.." she mumbled unconsciously.

She should not have.

A spider crawled out of the shoe and she dropped it in surprise, the hand flying up to her heart. For the love of..

She could not even finish that thought, for her mind panicked and froze at the same time as suddenly another spider, and another and another began to crawl out of the shoe. More followed, it did not stop. Too many to count. The shoe began to tremble and the room got filled with the sound of tiny spider legs clacking against it - it was impossible to even think of such a sound, but it really was echoing around in the room.

Natsuki's face was set to horror. She did not fear spiders and bugs.. but hundreds - thousands of them certainly were enough to terrify her and nearly crap her pants. She swallowed, her throat had dried up and she took a step back, slowly as to not alert the spiders that now covered the floor and half of the window, as well as the walls before her. The shoe could not be seen anymore - it disappeared in the sea of crawlers.

The sound of something crispy crunching beneath her foot startled her into turning around, since she had been taking steps backward. She raised her foot and saw whatever was left of a spider still twitching in its own blood.

Her gut was wrenching while knotting itself together. A cold sweat covered her whole body, and she simply ran. She ran as fast as she could. The black ocean behind her followed her, it's waves of tiny fangs lashing at her, trying to get her to stop. She had to continue running, she just had to!

But the room was smaller than she thought, she soon came upon a wall. And then another, and another. The only wall she could really see was the one with the window. The others were not visible because of the darkness that dominated the room.

She was trapped.

Panic stricken she took a deep breath and readied herself - her only option now was to stomp through that black ocean and try to ram her shoulder against the window once more. She was desperate, she had no other choice, she had to try it. She could not let herself be washed away with the spiders, so to speak.. not like whoever had once owned that shoe!

She threw herself with all her might against the window, or rather first against the rising wave of spiders that stood in her way, trying to hinder her.

Wading through the sea of spiders, that seemed to stick to her body crawling up; seemingly threading their spindly legs through the fabric of her jeans. They were truly like the sea slowing her heavy march down, as more and more of them swarmed over her body.

The light was beginning to become faded from the amount of spiders in the room as they swarmed over the quickly disappearing window.

Using one last burst of power she reached out, fingers, legs, kicking out she threw her entire weight onto the window, it creaked and cracked. Once again throwing herself as at this time the spiders were beginning to crawl up her neck.

She yelled out in a roar of finality her body bending painfully as she threw herself from the room glass and spiders scattering.

She was finally out of the cage, the lonely raven agreeing with a distant cry, echoing in the darkness that invaded her mind and finally her vision.

XOXOXOXOX

_L: OK so 15 pgs that's... allot._

**S: You think so?**

_L: Naw~ You think so?_

**S: Nope.**

_L: :D I think people should thank me for being so persistent with you or it wouldn't of gotten done._

**S: They really should be, especially since you absorbed a part of my creepiness-skills. But luckily.. I got a little of those skills back somehow. Go me.**

_L: :D woop woop yeah I like absorbed her creepiness!_

**S: How dare you**_._

_L: D: I'm so sorry *hugggggles* forgive meeeee~_

**S: But actually, if you absorbed my creepiness, you can write the story alone, since I am like mostly here for the creepiness, at least I was so far.**

_L: I have roped u into Natsuki's character you cannot escape. *sigh* this chapter was full of distractions though._

**S: You roped me into Natsuki's character? When the hell did that happen. True, distractions en masse.**

_L: (on skype) YAAAAAH_

_:D_

_in exactly that kind of manner _

_N:YO WHERE B DAT DUDE DAT I CAME EAR WITH YO!_

_k:o.O SOOOOOMEWHEEEEEERRRRRE! O.o_

_N:щ(__ﾟ__Д__ﾟ__щ)_

_ www .you tube watch? v=c Wsuz Rmq Duw &feature= related THEN THEY BREAK INTO THIS SONG AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER!_

_yeah we get distracted easily._

**S: More like you distract me with your randomness. As seen above.**

_L: we should show them some of me, u and berries convos._

**S: uhm**

**Why? its enough if they hear our banter in the AN's, no? and that awesome skype convo above, with the random song xD**

_L: :D THEIR TAKING THE HOBBITS TO ISENGARD!_

**S: What I have to deal with on almost a daily basis.. its horrible. *shakes head***

_L: *does a dance* Best. Song. Ever._

**S: …No.**

_L: *ignores* :D so yeah we worked hard and had plenty of distractions and then we worked like mad women cause I'm going to a party today and then I'm going to London_

_plus sheep's computer fucked over_

**S: well, not the computer directly.. more like the internet. Fucking bastards, working on it without notice for a week!**

_L: :D sucks for you my sheepy friend_

**S: Totally. I have so much stuff to catch up to, so many videos that just HAD to get uploaded within that week *grumbles***

**But at least I finished DA:O once again. *nods***

_L: I love games._

**S: You and me both**

_L: But that is enough for now and- *floor eats lion*_

**S: *comes back from looking for her brother because it was too quiet* No idea where the hell he went bu - what the hell Lion.**

_L: Uh.. its kinda dark down here_

**S:*sighs* See what I have to put up with? And that's actually not even the most random Lion can get.**

_L: Oh I know.. you should see me at times its just like wahhhh?_

**S: At times? More like all the time.**

_L: Sheepy sheep loves my randomness_

**S: You know the drill, if I say 'No I don't' now, you will disagree and we will never stop with the 'No' 'Yes'.**

_L: ok then that's enough for now... *summons ship* come sheep we must be off to new worlds!_

**S: I am not even going to ask about the ship. Better to just smile and agree, even if your mind is going 'What in the hell.'**

_Bye guys, hope you enjoyed._

R&R and you can go on Lions ship *captains hat*


	4. Chapter 4

"Ugh..", she groaned, her head felt like it was desperately trying to get itself split open her eyes felt as though they had been plastered together. Memory filtered back into the cracks of consciousness; her dreams.

_What's with these weird-ass dreams? This damn manor is absolutely fucking my head up!_

Her hand raised up to said head, gently rubbing at her temple as she groaned like a zombie to herself, "I should really ask someone about those.. maybe even the hag.. god, even thinking about asking her makes me want to hide under a rock.."

Natsuki started right after those words left her mouth because something had shoved her shoulder. Her hand flew up to her heart like she herself flew up into a sitting position, her eyes sprang open wide and she just about managed to keep herself from screaming.. sadly, she could not keep herself from emitting this tiny little 'eep' as the scream caught in the back of her throat. Her eyes caught the shape of a figure from the corner of her eye.

"Holy mother of fu - Shizuru? What in the.. " she had to stop because her brain needed to properly process what she was seeing. Shizuru. In.. this strange white room - whose room is this anyway? Everything's so... white.. and bright. Its clinic whites almost bleached her eyes! - the girl lay on her back with big red eyes staring at her.

She rubbed her eyes… "Okay. I'm dreaming again… and when I wake up I will be in my room, no white…"

Creaking the pasted tips of her eyes open she stared straight into red eyes…

What. The. Fuck.

Natsuki turned onto her side, her back now facing Shizuru.

_Not happening. Just another crazy, crazy dream.. just sleep. Simply sleep. Don't think about stuff.. just sleep_.

She buried her head deep into the fluffy pillows breathing clam and deep. The clean smell of linen and lavender washed over her, and regrettably made her more relaxed than she should have been. A vein was bulging on her forehead because she was having arguments in her head with herself. Her hand rubbed at it again, trying to soothe the oncoming headache because she really had enough stuff to worry about.. her head hurting as well would just make her even grumpier than she already was with everything going on.

There was another light shove on her shoulder, followed by another as she did not react immediately. She huffed and tried to shuffle further away from Shizuru without falling out of the bed. Another little shove was given and she had to grip the bed sheets to keep herself from falling onto the probably cold, hard floor - that girl really was way stronger than you'd expect.. and apparently stronger than she herself knew since that shove was almost painful.

And that was the pushover Natsuki did absolutely not need - she snapped.

"What the hell is wrong with you!", she barked as she simultaneously spun around, her eyes staring at Shizuru's... face inches from her own. "Oh for the love of -! STOP DOING THAT! At least have the goddamn curtsey to be at least a few inches away when I am yelling at you!" Natsuki was now breathing hard and deep, the outburst having cost her more energy than it usually should have. Her brows were furrowed, her mouth set into a deep scowl as she crossed her arms and waited for Shizuru to do as she asked.. or commanded.

For a few moments they stared into each others eyes. Neither willing to look away as if they would lose some sort of game if they did. Natsuki did her best to keep the swirling feelings of fear and hate out of her eyes.

It was almost as if Shizuru's eyes were magnets, endlessly deep, sucking her in. For a few seconds all was in a heated silence, the sound of a door handle creaking and clicking as the old frame screeched as the door cracked open.

The familiar click of a cane against the floor, as the oldest of the Kuga,s extravagant dress swept into view, Natsuki had never addressed this but it seemed as though her great aunt always dressed as though she were at a ball of a king or queen. Her old form seemed out of place in the flowing silk gown, as if she were trying to plaster herself into the past.

Her hawk like eyes gazed across the room, locking with the forms of both Shizuru and Natsuki. It was then that it occurred to Natsuki that this was not in fact her room.. But Shizuru's.

The clinic whites seemed almost as though this was the perfect room for the young girl, one she could almost blend into.

Shock of the situation she was in morphed her face into one of absolute horror at being found in her second cousins bed, she had no excuse, nor did she even remember why she was there.

Due to this she doesn't realise Shizuru's weight shift and fall upon her shoulders as the girl drapes her arms around Natsuki, looking straight into the sharp greens of Natsuki's great aunt.

Natsuki stiffened, her eyes darting back and forth between the silhouette of the old woman and the back of Shizuru's white dress. there was little help in resisting, she had already established how strong the girl was and pushing away the girls affection in front of her aunt did not strike her as the best idea.

Natsuki braced herself for some sort of scolding that was so sure to follow that incredulous look she had seen on her great aunts face upon entering the room. She held her breath as the hags eyes continued to swerve from Shizuru to herself and right back. It happened several times, and each time Natsuki thought she saw something strange in her great aunts eyes. Like.. like some sort of spikes behind them, though only directed towards herself. Shizuru was the favourite after all, it was glaringly obvious to her now.

But nothing came.

No scolding. No displeased sigh or wrinkle of the nose, nor a squinting of those still sharp eyes. Just the sound of deep breathing from her side where Shizuru still lay, sprawled across Natsuki in an awkward hug where one participant was not so sure as to what was going on.

The green eyed girl watched only. Watched the familiar, yet unfamiliar green eyes across the room. Something was not quite right, it seemed. It seemed so from the hags body language at least, and the unnerving stillness from the pale girl beside her. They both were staring at each other now, none of their eyes glancing away at something - or someone - else.

The older of the three of them, tilts her head in a kind of apology? Maybe? Then slowly backs out and away from the room. The door creeks shut, and the two of them are left in the cold silence of the dark morning. Shizuru's arms are still wrapped around Natsuki's shoulders and its as if she has no intention of letting go.

Shifting a little she throws her self off balance, sliding back. Due to the sudden shift, Shizuru's head and body move up, her lips pressing right to the hollow of Natsuki's neck…

Everything's cold.

All of a sudden her body is overrun with pain, bruises and scratches, bite marks and the dents of nails. Her body is made of rock, her eyes are plastered open, or maybe someone has used pins and pined her eye lashes to her eye brows in order to keep them open.

It feels as though someone is sticking a million tiny needles into every pore in her body.

Her throat is closing up making it impossible too scream that's why all that comes out is a broken spasm of vocal cords.

Before she even realised what happened, shizuru is on the floor and she is out the door, her bare feet slapping against the frozen floor, but she doesn't care, not any more, just as soon as she felt as though she remembered something its gone and now only the fear is left.

But the fear of what?

She did not know. Well, she did know.. she just had no idea how to explain it even to herself. Or maybe it was just so easy to explain that it became complicated to do so. It was all so confusing now because of a rapid hammering in her skull that appeared. Hadn't she just gotten rid of a headache? Why was it back already, she wondered. She could not do with the headaches interfering with her perception of this manor, it was all weird enough as it was without even trying to be. At least it was to her. Who knew what the others thought of the manor? Who even cared what they thought, they did not seem to care all that much about her and her thoughts, so why should she.

Shizuru.

Her name flicked across her mind for the fraction of a second. She would care in her own weird way, but it would be so weird to Natsuki that she would probably not recognize it for what it was, now would she?

Natsuki climbed out of the bed slowly, her feet clothed in simple white socks touching the ground after some seconds that just seemed to drag on. What was it that had her so scared, she wondered. Even if Shizuru was pretty scary - hell, even borderline terrifying at times - it could not simply be her, could it? Her feet carried her to the door through which the maroon-eyed girl had just fled. She shuddered, wondering how that girl could deal with the biting cold of the floor when even she herself felt as if she was getting frostbite just from standing on it while having socks on.

Well, those were not exactly the most appropriate socks, seemingly just a second skin above her own, but either way the floor was freezing her toes off.

She sighed, "..just how in the world is it that everyone but me is not bothered by this stupid, stupid manor and all these stupid mazes and the stupid things happening here." Another sigh broke free from between her lips as her feet seemed to drag her further into some part of the manor she could not recognize. How in the world did Kado find his way through here, or the hag? She wondered again, since both of them were already quite old, and she had always thought old people forgot things as the time went by. It made sense in her own head, that they should have forgotten the way by now to some room.

"Maybe they do forget it all the time, but who would even be around to see that.. oh for crying out loud, what am I even thinking about!" She threw her hands up in the air at her last remark, her brows furrowed and an angry scowl settling down in her face. Her scowl tightened as she realized she had rhymed unintentionally.

Natsuki kicked at the floor, her socks scraping against a gorgeous velvet carpet, the colour this time an unexpected and soothing blue.. like the flowers back on the dining table. It comforted her for some reason - she had always been quite fond of the colour blue.

Looking around she found herself completely lost. The room at first seemed to have no windows but slowly as she adjusted to the dark, she found that they had been boarded up and barred, this room had little to no light the only reason she had noticed the blue of the velvet was that some of the boards had chipped away letting through a few stray beams of grey light.

There was little in the room, a fireplace, a piano covered in a white sheet, and a couch. They stood alone and silent. It didn't feel that bad. In fact in here she felt safe. She was alone, sure but without anyone to hurt u how could you be in danger.

Slowly she walked forwards stepping onto the wooden floor.

Then.

Crack!

She plummeted down, without time to scream or panic. Her stomach lurched and her body shivered, she could die. No she probably would.

Just as she thought this, she hit the ground.

"Fucking A!" she said out loud as she lay there on her back with her head turned upwards toward the hole in the ceiling which she had just fallen through. Natsuki groaned as one hand flew to her lower back, rubbing at it in soft circles in hopes of dimming the painful throbs that settled there now thanks to this fall. She had crashed upon cold, incredibly hard and wet stone. She was definitely not pleased in the slightest. She turned her head away while she sat up, not yet trusting her body to stand up. Its not everyday that one takes a fall such as this - and then even without breaking something!

A frown appeared on her face as she pondered upon this, did she break something? She rotated and moved her left arm slowly and a relieved sigh left her lips as nothing hurt beyond a minor ache that was caused by some bruises, since she had instinctively tried to shield herself from the fall in some way. Her right arm felt fine, she could move it just perfectly fine and nothing had hurt as she had moved it to her back where her hand still rubbed soothing circles on her lower back.

Natsuki's eyes had finally adjusted to the lighting - or rather, lack thereof - this place was dark as hell and smelled of moss and as strange as it may sound of wet stone. But there was also another distinctive smell that she could place.. but she wished her nose was just playing a trick on her. While slowly making to stand up and noticing that while she had been lucky regarding her arms, her left leg did not fare as well as she would have liked. It burned like hell as she put weight on it and she noticed with some anger burning up inside her, that she had managed to get a little piece of the - apparently rotten - wooden flooring stuck in her leg like a little dagger. She glared up to the hole again and was tempted to give the hole the oh-so-loved finger, but refrained from doing so. She had to calm down if she wanted to get out of here somehow.

...who was she kidding, how in the FUCK would she get out of here! She had no fucking clue where she was, she did not even know where the hell she had been up there in that blue-carpeted room! Hastily she felt for that piece of wood in her leg again and flinched as she came in contact with it. It was pretty much stuck in her upper thigh, though she could not tell if it was deep or not. The pain was so constant that it was already starting to numb, or maybe it was adrenaline that still shot through her system. Probably the latter, she thought, and proceeded to put her hand around the part that stuck out of her thigh. Deep, soothing and slow breaths, she told herself as she steeled her mind for the pain that was sure to follow with the pulling out of that piece.

"AAARGH!", with a yell she pulled and yanked the wood out of her thigh. She tumbled to the ground again during the process - she had not thought of sitting down before doing so. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Whimpers escaped her tightly shut lips and tears squeezed themselves from her eyes, running down her cheeks just like some sweat that was now running down her forehead and the side of her face.

As was the blood from her wound. It was gloriously running down her leg and seeping into her pants as it made its way down to earth. Her wound seemed to glare at her, just as she now glared at the wound. It hurt. It hurt, so much. It hurt, so much and she willed it to stop with her glare, it had always worked when someone was irritating her or anything alike.. she had hoped it worked on wounds as well, though it was stupid. She had to distract herself from the pain, or else she would give in to the pain and the sleepiness fogging her mind.

Natsuki looked around, her vision accustomed to the dark by now without her noticing, and her gaze travelled along the cave like walls, partially covered in moss. The ceiling was occasionally covered with moss as well, though mostly some kind of ranks hung down, though they were more like little wires than ranks. Her gaze shifted onto the floor, and she ducked down slowly, carefully so as to not hurt her leg, and swept a hand across the cold stone, bringing it back up to her face.

"..blood?", she whispered as the colour registered in her mind, and just as she was about to freak out and wonder, what kind of poor thing had been injured in here for there to be so much blood... she slapped herself across the face, softly. "Baka, I was the one injured.. of course there is going to be blood... ugh, my left pant leg is completely drenched..", it came out as a harsh whisper with a hint of disgust at the end.

RRRIIIIIP!

She had just torn a strip off her shirt - white, of course, like apparently everything associated with Shizuru - and used it to bandage her wound, at least somewhat. Now she was at least not loosing so much blood so rapidly, and it also seemed to help with the pain. It pressed constantly against her injury, so it began to feel numb to her brain after some time, and she was glad for that.

Slowly the green eyed girl trotted towards the wall to her left and propped herself with her left hand against it, so that her leg did not have to bare the full weight of her body. She staggered along the wall, all the while her gaze flicking from one thing to another, the moss, the wire-like ranks - or were those actually roots? - to the darkness before her and to anything that may seem interesting. She spotted a cobweb behind a larger rock that was leaning against the wall she was walking along. A tiny spider crawling around on it that froze when she came closer.

Her skin began to crawl, she was reminded of her dream. With her right hand she started to scratch at random places on her body, because it seemed like there were insects crawling upon it. A shudder ran through her, just like an icy chill went down her spine at the same time. It was not pleasant at all.

She was tempted to just pick up some rock lying around and throw it into the net - revenge, if you will. But she decided against it, instead slowly limping her way around the larger rock and finally to some sort of.. entrance - or was it an exit?

She took another step, followed by another and another. She was breathing calmly, the air was surprisingly refreshing down here.. but she still did not want to put a name to that smell that invaded her nose with the others. She was content with just smelling the moss and wet stone. She did not need to know exactly what that last, slightly salty and rusty smell was.

SPLASH!

"Oh great." Natsuki grumbled, "..seriously. An underground river?" One of her eyebrows climbed up on her forehead, a frown settling down on her face once more as she shook her leg that had planted itself flat-out into this underground river. It was shallow, the water - just reaching up to her ankles, at best up to her knees. But as she took a closer look at her now matching pair of soaked pant legs, she spotted not much of a difference. The left one was drenched with blood from her wound, the right was... not drenched in water, as she had expected.

It was red - even if a little lighter than the other red on her pants, it was still red. It should not be red. Water is not supposed to be red. It is just not supposed to be red! It should be clear! transparent! Not red! NOT RED!

She stumbled back, watching as the murky water rolled past. She backed up against the wall, bending her knees to sit on her ankles. Despite herself she couldn't help but take a closer look. Was it really blood?

She looked towards the way the river was coming from. It could be a way out.. The river seemed to be running downhill, anywhere pointing up would be good. Slowly she got to her feet. In the light of things she pretty much had no choice. Slowly foot after foot she sank into the murky water. Now coming up to her knees she shivered, using the moss covered walls as handholds she made her way upwards.

It proved to be no easy task, with the moss covering all stones it was dangerous, the water was cold and she was in only socks. Insects scuttled over her hands as she disturbed their nests and hiding places. Slowly it became steeper and steeper she could see at the top a kind of ledge once she got up there is wouldn't be so bad would it?

A smell was beginning to fill the air like rotting fish, the water was getting filthier. Once or twice she thought of turning back.. But what if this was the way out? Shivering as the water became deeper as she reached the bottom of the ledge, now soaked through, she pulled herself up, the smell was getting worse. Could this be the way to where the food that wasn't used was thrown.

But why here?

Panting she cringed at the bitter taste in the air, she couldn't escape the smell, as it overwhelmed her senses. She felt bile in the back of her throat she spat it out, it was like that feel you get after you finish a cigarette, that taste you have to spit it out. She tumbled against the wall.

What was up there?

What could it be?

The water was filthy, scummy, the stench coming from it like raw sewage. Watering at the eyes, she covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve, and ventured forwards.

The level of the water lowering slightly, but it smelt worse, bits had started to form on the top of it as it slowly seeped past her.

"oh good god." she heaved.

Her head was screaming but she couldn't, not now, something was wrong, she knew it. And it was at the end of this tunnel. She would find it, she must.

Soon the water was only to her ankles but that only made her aware of what was beneath the surface.

Bones. Hundreds of them.

Her head started to swirl.

Bones?

Bones!

Blood!

Bones!

Blood!

"Oh Jesus."

Before her stretched a room.

Tall and wide.

And in that room…

Corpses.

They had no eyes, and some where as rotten as the mansion was old.

All were strapped down and nailed to strange wooden contraptions.

Their fingers were bent horribly, as each one of their joints supported a horribly long nail. Mouths were open in agony stretched and pussing.

She could only stare. Horror. The horror.

In the middle of the room, there was a platform, it dripped with red liquid.

Blood.

Illuminated by the straight beam of light that shone down from above. Natsuki could only creep closer. There was a figure on that platform..

Fresh.

Her vision hazed as she wondered further and, she could feel a scream welling up within her. But for now she crept closer to the impaled figure.

His face was familiar.

She recognised his clothes.

She knew his hair.

Finally she stepped into the full light..

There in the middle of the platform. His head bent horribly backwards, each of his dripping wounds, sprung a nail, in each of the joints. He was missing his eyes, but could still portray the absolute horror etched into his face at the time of his death.

On his chest a symbol.

She did not know of what, she did not care of what.

In that room, pinned to that spot, was the horribly mangled corpse of the suited man.

Her body convulsed, as she threw up. She couldn't scream she couldn't breath she, stood there, staring in horror as the mans wounds continued to drip.

One word rang in her head, bouncing from invisible walls inside her head and echoing around till the echoes slowly died down only to be replaced by the very same word again, and again, and again. 'Why'.

Her knees buckled under her, trembling so very much that they could not support her any longer. She did not even feel the impact of her knee's crashing onto the hard ground, she was so numb from shock. She did not believe her eyes, she could not. She would not. It would tear a hole in the already quickly thinning veil that was her sanity. Too much had already happened in such a short time in this manor. The dreams, though she was so very sure they were just exactly that, tore at her very core.

Natsuki coughed and spit on the ground to get a bit of this vile, despicable taste out of her mouth. Her stomach decided that she had not yet tasted enough of it and started to churn again. She heaved every last bit of what was in her stomach onto the floor, her arms bracing themselves against it lest she would fall face-first into it in the end.

Her vision was blurring from tears that ran down her cheeks, she could not force them away, her body did not follow her command anymore, at least for now it did not.

As she finally heaved the last bit of this sour tasting acid onto the floor she took deep breaths to soothe her rapidly pumping heart that seemed to burst out of her ribcage at any given moment, gripped by fear so tightly that it tried to shake it off by moving as much and as fast as possible.

She continued kneeling on the floor over the puddle of vomit, not yet trusting herself to stand up lest her legs give way again.

By now the word that had been bouncing around in her head was joined by other words, though most of them being vulgar and cursing out whoever the hell did this, or let something like this happen.

Against what her mind told her in-between the words jumbling around in it, she looked up again to this ludicrous... whatever it was. Her stomach churned again as her green eyes set upon the empty sockets where once the others eyes had been.

With a grimace on her face, Natsuki turned her eyes away and saw the remaining of the poor creatures littered around this.. torture chamber.

"Oh god.. oh, god. Oh god. Oh god!", it repeated in her head like a mantra, fortified by every bloodied and mangled corpse she was and getting louder until she whispered the mantra to herself, louder and louder.

She had to get out of here. Now. Right now.

Without paying attention to her injured leg she shot up, wincing at the pain that shot up her leg and cursing softly. She gripped at said leg, the pain far worse than she had anticipated as a cold sweat formed on her forehead and clung to her eyebrows as it made its way down her face. With some effort, she swallowed, the sound way to loud to her liking and run out of this chamber as fast as she could.. which wasn't all that fast, what with her limping and her stomach now painfully empty.

Painfully long minutes that seemed like hours to Natsuki crawled by as she made her way out of the chamber and back to the... river. She shuddered as she saw the red liquid flowing its way through the cave in an almost peaceful manner. The thought of.. of all their blood granting this river it's colour had her almost hunching over again, but there was nothing left to get rid of in her stomach.

'How do I get out.. how. How. How? How! How.. ' Words repeated themselves in her head several times before she really grasped their meaning. The pounding was back, though it was minor it still irritated her and she scoffed. As if she did not have enough stuff to deal with already. She eyed the river again and watched it flow down into the place where she fell through the ceiling.. or at least down that way, it was to far and to dark to see back to that place.

"..if.. if I follow it back up.. it has to come from somewhere.." Natsuki mumbled to herself, turning into the direction where the water came from, "..it's worth a shot.. otherwise.."

She did not dare continue that thought.

With a heavy sigh she set upon the task to walk alongside the river in hopes of getting out of here, her leg giving her more trouble than she expected and slowing her down more than she liked.

After walking for what seemed like hours, maybe even days she heard louder splashing and her mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that yes - finally! - she had found out where the water came from and maybe she could get out of here. She did not even notice that the water had become clear during the distance she walked, since the blood had turned it red, thus the closer she got to the original source, the clearer it became. She was to tired to notice something like that. Her body hurt, her leg the most of all, and her stomach grumbled in demand of food to sate its hunger. She was a wreck by now.

Natsuki's elated expression that had settled in her face without her noticing turned sour as a whispered 'For the love of -!' escaped her lips. It just HAD to be a waterfall - though quite small - that would hopefully lead out of here.

Well, not really a waterfall, but the water came splashing down a wall of rocks about 20 feet high and in her current condition, that would be quite the task ahead of her. But she had no choice.

...well, apart from staying down here and dying by starvation or blood loss. Whichever came first, she could not tell. Probably the latter.

With an angry huff and after taking a deep breath she began her climb up the rocky wall as soon as she found some place where she could get a grip. She was quite lucky despite everything happening - the wall really was littered with rocks that just screamed 'Hold onto me, I am a sturdy rock planted firmly into this wall, I will not give way so easily!' to her.

Sweat clung to her body as she urged herself to ascend into her freedom, she at least hoped so. She had to think positive, even if it was not her forte and probably never would be. Her leg hurt. It hurt very much.

Who was she kidding? Her leg was killing her, it was throbbing and pulsing so harshly and practically radiated heat. She really was not doing her injury any favours by doing this and she often had to stop for a second to catch her breath and will the pain away as best as she could.

And to Natsuki's credit, it worked quite well and after.. some time she finally - FINALLY! - grasped the end. The top. She was on top, she had managed it, she did not care what it was called. She just wanted to get up there and she did it, now lying on her back on the cold, still wet floor simply breathing in much needed air.

The cold water rushed past her body, she couldn't stop now, not as close as she believed she was to the exit. She sat up, from behind a noise sounded, like rock slipping against rock, something opening.

Someone was behind her…

Back there..

Where..

She shivered at the memory, the person who had done it, probably was back there. She jumped back slightly, slowly edging her way closer and closer to the speck of light coming from behind.

Some mumbled voices.

A scream.

Caution was gone replaced by panic. Breath caught in her throat, she turned and ran. Ignoring the burn of her wounds she scrambled through the large hole where the water was coming from, she found herself in the middle of a river. In the distance the ominous figure of the mansion.

Screw not having her stuff, screw her phone, screw her trainers and family obligation.

She kept running, her feet ploughing through the water, the water resisting her almost trying to pull her back to keep her from running to the nearest police station and telling them about the freak shows in this place.

Hitting the bank of the river, finally free of the cold water, her legs burned with cuts, her throat burned with a throbbing ache, her eyes were beginning to get swollen from the amount of tears she was holding back.

She broke into a pathetic run her body and mind exhausted.

She continued to plod through the foliage, getting ever more lost..

Finally she fell too her knees. Curling over herself, sobbing.

She was alone.

A weight on her back.

It was warm and soft, and as it gently ran over her messy hair and back, she could feel her body loosen.

She turned, teary eyes shaking, she didn't care who. She just wanted comfort. And there kneeling next to her, though distorted by tears was Shizuru. Her red eyes gazed at Natsuki, full of worry? Of pity? Unable to stop herself she fell into her lap, the white of her dress, stained with dirt and tears as Natsuki let go and started to cry readily into the soft lap of her second cousin.

"I didn't want to come here you know.." she hiccupped. "I would have been fine staying in fuuka… But.. I would have been fine with Mai, with Aoi, with everyone…" her voice horse and broken. "why does it all have to happen to me? I don't get it?"

Shizuru lent forwards her arms coming right round, lost in her warmth Natsuki realised how long she had gone with out a real hug. Sure Shizuru had hugged her before but this was different. This was one of those hugs that Mai would give her after she had, had a particularly crappy day, when she had been down and depressed as all teens get.

She reacted as though it were normal, shooting up she pulled Shizuru into a full on hug, her tear streaked face buried in her hair, her arms tightly wrapped around. And Shizuru let it happen, gently stroking her back. They stayed that way for a few moments, Natsuki sniffing and coughing once in a while.

Natsuki felt warm breath on her ear, stiffening she heard a whisper. "It's okay. Don't cry, Natsuki."

"Shizuru-"

She was cut off by a hackled yell of Shizuru-sama! The old man, Kado!

She leapt back from the hug as if it were made of fire. Just as the man shuffled round the corner. Surprise covered his weepy blue eyes for a moment as he lay eyes on the two girls.

It left just as quickly as it came. "It is getting to be around noon. Milady would prefer for you to come inside." and just as quickly he shuffled away.

Before Natsuki could even utter a word or word a question she was snatched by the elbow by a surprisingly comforting hand from Shizuru who then immediately proceeded to drag her off into the direction Kado had just disappeared to.

The injured girl however had not expected to just suddenly be jolted forward, thus she proceeded to nearly face-plant into the dirt had it not been for her pale companion. She had the reflexes and the strength to catch her before something like that could happen and after a wide-eyed stare that swept over her body she was just as promptly snatched up in bridal-style.

"O-oi, what..", there was a pause and then the sound of ragged breathing. After some seconds her voice sounded again, low, nearly in a whisper, "..what are you doing? I can walk perfectly fine by myself." She had to force it out of her mouth, a sudden sleepiness clinging to her mind so strong that she nearly wanted to give in right then and there, never mind that she was being touched without her consent.

Natsuki's eyes kept closing and shooting open after seconds while she was being carried rather fast and apparently without effort into the place she had tried to escape in the first place. The heavy, dark doors of the manor seeming not quite as intimidating to her as they did some days ago, just like everything else right now. She was just so tired, and her goddamn leg still hurt like hell.

At that thought she suddenly had to wince and reached with one hand for the wounded leg that was pressing against Shizuru's abdomen, staining her white dress with all the dirt and grime that clung to her pants.

Shizuru did not seem to mind, her face set into a determined, practically invisible frown, her brows just a little furrowed. Just a little bit. It sent a surprisingly warm and comforting feeling through her body as she noticed this. Maybe it was not all that bad that the strange, pale girl seemed to be this attached to her.

And before she even really noticed, Natsuki was placed upon the same white bed in which she had been this morning with the utmost care, the crack in Shizuru's mask still in view as said girl brushed softly over her cheek and then proceeded to practically run towards the door in search of.. something. A first-aid kit most likely.

She appeared in the door way, the first aid kit in her hand looked as though it were here from the 1940's she gently placed it at Natsuki's side, before gripping hold of her wrists to make her stand up.

For a few seconds Natsuki just stood there looking at Shizuru's bashful face. It was the first time she had shown barely any emotion, plus she had no idea why she had to stand up.

Shizuru looked at her expectantly, the pink tint on her cheeks grew as time went on… the girl moved forward and tugged on Natsuki's jeans.

"Oh..- Oh!" she exclaimed as she realised that Shizuru couldn't exactly get to the wound while she wore jeans.

She fingered around the zipper, her fingers fumbling from nerves.

Awkward and slow she shimmied out of her jeans and kicked them away slightly, as her face got redder and redder. She sunk back into the bed refusing to make eye contact with the young girl in front of her.

The sound of liquid on cloth as Shizuru gently placed the wet cloth on her wound, she took a sharp breath and hissed in pain. Dabbing it she cleaned the wound, then pulled out an assortment of other things a bandage and salve.

Slowly her wound was cleaned but, she was forced to take a shower before it was dressed… it was only when she was clean that she realised how much she had stank, and yet Shizuru still held her and allowed her to sit on her bed.

As she came out he hair dripping wet she sat on the bed once more, Shizuru bandaged her wound..

And when it was over she couldn't help but smile at her and say thanks.

The girl shook her head and pulled out her mobile.

"Where did you get that?.. No wait it doesn't matter. Thank you."

From outside she could hear the old woman calling for Shizuru and with an apologetic look she slipped out only leaving Natsuki in this white room.

Without thinking twice she went to contacts and dialled up Mai's number. The buzzing of the other phone on the other end, made her count the seconds until Mai picked up.

_Ring, ring! Ring, ring!_

The click as someone picked up the phone.

"_Hello?" _Mai's chipper voice rang over the line.. Natsuki was suddenly overcome with a jolt of panic

"Mai. You've got to save me. They're crazy here, CRAZY!"

"_Okay… Hello by the way. Nice to hear your voice?"_

"Are you listening Mai? They are GO-ING TO KILL ME!"

"_Who? What's going on?"_

Words spilled out of Natsuki's mouth before she could anchor them, they slipped out like water, as she spewed them into the phone.

_."…Okay? You need meds. Are you sure it wasn't just a nightmare? You know cause like you said in horribly butchered way, that you had been having a lot of them. Are you sure your just not home sick?"_

"Mai. I'm not home sick, and no I don't think it was a dream, if it were I wouldn't have this freaking stab wound on my leg, that is defiantly going to scar by the way."

"_Okay. I get it, I'll… try to find out.. Something, okay?"_

That was really all Natsuki could ask for. Reluctant for Mai's voice to disapear she paused before grunting a agreement into the phone.

"_Good. Then I will call you soon. Okay?"_

"Yeah… bye."

"_bye-bye Na-chan."_

As the line buzzed Natsuki held her phone to her head for a few seconds. Almost as if it could of sucked her in to take her to where Mai was.

Deciding that after about 7minutes with her phone pressed to her ear nothing would happen in regards to that anymore, she placed it beside her on the bed with a sigh, praying silently for Mai to find something. She looked around this ridiculously bright, white room, not finding a speck of dirt clinging to anything, really.

"...well," she thought," ..besides the bed now I guess." as her gaze dropped to said bed and the dirt and filth now clinging to the pristine white sheets. Before she could think more about it though, the hag came trotting into the room, Shizuru not even 3 steps behind her.

"Uh... hi?", it really came out more as a question than a greeting, so she promptly started to scratch the back of her neck - a nervous habit of hers.

"My.. whatever have you done to yourself, child." The statement was accompanied by a slight shake of the head, a wrinkly hand coming up to the forehead while doing so.

Before Natsuki could even open her mouth she continued, "Do try to be more careful, it would be a shame if your pretty skin would be blemished by more scars, dear." A sigh, and then Madam Kuga came closer to her niece, invading her personal space to softly pat at her cheek in a fashion that was probably meant to be loving.

Natsuki had to repress the urge to shiver, that hag really had some awfully cold hands, not to mention it just made her so uncomfortable when her personal space got invaded, even for petty things such as these.

She just sat there, staring quite dumbfounded ahead to where her great-aunt had just been. She was already walking away, her cane clicking along as it ever did and after a brief exchange between Shizuru and the Madam, the hag left.

Natsuki snapped out of it after a while and noticed her pale.. saviour still standing there just some steps away from the door. So with a little sigh that, hopefully, went unnoticed she gestured for the paler girl to sit beside her.

She could not even think another word before she found herself nearly tackled to the bed. And surprising the both of them, she just accepted it. She really could not tell if it was because she was just getting so tired, what with all the things that happened and her injury.. or if she was just sick of telling her off and not really getting her point across.

She brought one hand up and softly patted the other girls back, before simply telling her that she was goddamn tired.

Natsuki had not even waited for a response, so the soft whisper of "Sleep, Natsuki." threw her completely off. Too close to her ear, that voice. Way too close. Way too close to her in general.

She was about to wriggle out of the hug, somehow, as Shizuru willingly let her go and tenderly pushed her into a lying position while she herself still sat on the bed. And once again as she opened her mouth to say something, slender fingers were upon her lips combined with a soft smile that had her eyes grow tired and close.

Though not even half an hour later Natsuki's eyes shot open again, a scream breaking from her mouth and one arm shooting into the air, as if to grasp at something. Seconds later she was enveloped by soft arms and cool breath upon her shoulder while she still fought the images in her head away - the horrible images of the men and probably women she had seen down there. Her eyes shot around, never settling on one thing for more than a second as her breathing was still ragged.

Blood.

So much blood.

Too much blood.

Then her eyes settled onto something red and she nearly wanted to scream again - her mind still associating that colour strictly with blood. A delicate hand upon her cheek, cool to the touch but soothing despite that fact, and the scream died down in her throat before it broke free.

Tears that threatened to fall from her green eyes were slowly running down her cheeks, wetting them and the hand upon one of them. Her eyes still gazed upon their red counterpart, her head just slightly turned to look over her shoulder to Shizuru.

Tender words, no more than a whisper, ghosted over her ear just like the other girls breath, "It's alright, don't cry Natsuki."

And seemingly just as sudden as she had awoken, her eyelids closed while she was gently guided back into a lying position.

peacefully she closed her eyes drifting into blissful silence

XOXOXOXOXXOX

_L: slides into AN* FINISSSSSHED *face plants desk*_

**S:*Calmly walks into the AN, sees Lion and simply ignores her antics* Yo.**

_L: *Hugs sheep* We MADE it sheepy WE MADE IT_

**S: Get off of me. *Smacks Lions forehead* And yes, we made it. Woop woop. I am thrilled. Get off.**

_L: No you love it and don't pretend you don't_

**S: I don't love it. I may not absolutely loathe it, but still. I accept it on certain occasions, as you already know. Now is not such an occasion, thus I conclude that you should get the hell off, you're making my body temperature rise and I don't like that.**

_L: She loves it. any way *calmly bows before readers* I'm sorry about last months update there were some problems going on._

**S: *Rolls eyes and bows with Lion* True, most on my end. Trouble in Paradise, thus I am now single. Yay. One can feel my elation, no?**

_L: *looks to sheep* uh Hello mostly me lets not forget who was in the middle of a love triangle_

**S: ...true, Almost forgot about that. But you know how I get, being so very, very lazy and all that. I guess we both did have quite some Trouble in Paradise.**

_L: yeah. we've been there for each other though.. both of us have been in our relationships longer than three years so.. mine has been for around like five._

**S: *pats Lions back* Yup. Been in mine for three to four years, have been urged to break up by a friend of ours who was.. and pretty much still is in love with me. Though Lion there also opened my eyes quite a bit to that relationship I had. In the end, its for the best.**

_L: *pats sheep's shoulder* ..mine. well lets just say.. it was a blast from the past plus a lot of.. uh how to say jealous fights_

**S: Bitch-fights. Or more like Catfights..**

_L: now they r pretty much a dime a dozen_

**S: Yeah. Plus you got yourself way to many people who crush on you for unexplainable reasons.. at least in my eyes.**

_L: ..WHY DO U ALL LOVE ME? seriously i have too many likers_

**S:: I don't love you.**

L:: ...why.. why do u say such things

**S: Because it's the truth. Besides, your reaction to me confessing my love would be 'Ew.'**

_L: actually it would be a hug u no ilylas_

**S: I thought we spoke about the romantic kind of love.**

_L: ew no_

**S:: See? Told you so.**

_L: well u would make THE FACE and scream loud enough to wake Austria_

**S: Before or after I smacked your silly head into oblivion?**

_L: ...through a computer?_

**S: You have no idea what I am capable of.**

_L: D:_

**S: *Chuckles darkly* Oh I do so enjoy being mean to you.**

_L: *punches sheep in the face* anyway next chappie should be out this month like cause i am going to MAKE sheep do it whether she WANTS to or NOT O.o_

**S: MOTHERF-! *puts hand over mouth and nose* What the hell was that for, Lion! That hurt, god damnit**

_L: the I don't love you and for being mean to me plus I think everyone wanted to punch u in the face for being mean to me soooo..._

**S: *Snorts, even though it is painful* Suuuure. *Rolls eyes and wipes blood away with her hand* I so want to know who of our DEAR readers would have punched me.**

_L: duno your being mean to me and I don't like it_

**S: Do I punch you in the face when you hug me because I do not like it? *Raises eyebrow***

_L: yeah you do *turns into a lion and runs away*...*CRYING!*_

**S: *Looks puzzled* When, for heavens sake, have I ever done that. Never mind, just run if you want. I don't care**

4 minutes later.

**S: Have I really been left alone? Oh how magnificent that would be.. *Smirks slowly***

9 minutes after that

_L: there how did that feel meanie_

**S: Oh. You're back? *Sighs***

_L: ... yeah and I'm leaving again_

**S: *Chuckles and softly hugs Lion* Calm down already, you are very much aware that I am just teasing you like you always tease me and make me blush. Though in different ways.. nevermind.**

_L: I duno if i should forgive u or not_

**S: Well. Think logically. If you do not forgive me, we will most likely not be conversing for some time, thus there is not really a way for us to complete the next chapter. Besides, you do like having me around.**

_L: hmm.._

**S: By the way, the AN is getting ridiculously long.**

_L: yeah lets argue somewhere else till next time... you know what seeing as u were being mean.. im leaving sheep here bye *ninja's away."_

**S: *Shakes head with a small smile* Indeed, lets argue somewhere else. I do hope you all have enjoyed this delayed chapter. I am not asking for Reviews, that usually is Lions job. Seeing as she is already gone, we will have to deal without something like that. Until the next chapter then, Servus.**

_L: *ninja whisper* Reeeeeveiw..._


	5. Chapter 5

It must have been around seven am. The sun's unnaturally cold light broke through the gradually lightening grey clouds, and the mist started to clear slowly.

Natsuki lay on her back, eyes sealed close as the light crept across her face. She groaned rolling to the side, dragging the covers over her face. The sent of lavender smothered her senses, her brow furrowed in confusion. This wasn't her room.

Slowly she cracked her heavy eyes open, once again coming face to face with that pure white room. And all at once the memories of yesterday flooded her, shooting up she looked around, no sign of her dirty clothes, just clean ones folded at the end of the bed. No blooded or dirtied sheets, or stains on the pure white floor.

Her fingers instantly went to her arms, her chest, her leg. No cuts, no scrapes.

"What?.."

Pulling the covers off, she peered down at her legs, expecting a blooded bandage and other multiple cuts. But no, nothing. She ran her hands over the smooth unscathed skin. Her eyes not quite believing.

Confused she crawled to the end of the bed, grabbing her socks, she pulled them on before stepping onto the cold floor. There were no aches or pains, no headache, she couldn't help but think that what happened was a dream…

Shaking her head, she got dressed.

Maybe it was a dream, maybe she was just homesick.

A yawn broke free from her and she made her way to the dining hall. Or at least as she shuffled around in those mazes they dare call hallways in here, she just hoped she would find it by herself.

And apparently her unheard prayers have been deemed worthy - she did indeed find the way to the dining hall - and even in just half an hour.. that was quite respectable in her books, she had still not really had a clue which hallway led to which part of the manor, and which hallway connected with another, connecting with another and another and so on and so forth. It was quite ridiculous, now that she thought about it, that there are this many hallways that join and connect only to trick people into thinking they are getting somewhere, when in truth they are just getting more and more lost.

With a sigh that seemed to send away all thoughts running around in her head she pulled open the huge doors to the dining room.. well. It was more of a hall, really. Way to big for the people present in the house.

Natsuki was stunned to see that she was the only one present. She shook her head, blinking twice. "Did I get lost without noticing on my way here and missed breakfast?" she thought, confused. Taking some steps toward the table after closing the doors behind her, she spotted the blue flowers again on the table in-between heaps of freshly cooked food - it was even still steaming!

Now she was even more confused and turned to a clock in the room - it was not even eight am.. so where the hell was everybody?

She shuffled over to the seat that seemed to be assigned to her, her fingers winding round the mahogany, almost too carefully, as if she was just waiting for someone to be hiding away around a corner. Sitting down she took in the sight before her. In all honesty it seems as though they had taken her lack of appetite to heart.

There were fruits, toast, jams and some eggs, all still fresh and well made. She calmly picked at the food while looking up to the large door every once in a while. She truly was alone, those little blue flowers were pretty much the only light colour in the room, and Natsuki couldn't help but take in the artistic brilliance that had gone into this room.

As her appetite dissipated, she realised that this was probably the only time she had felt comfortable while eating in the mansion.

Setting down her knife and fork she couldn't shake off the feeling that what she had seen wasn't a dream. She couldn't remember it fully, but she could recall a hole in a boarded up room, where the only light was seen through the slight cracks in the bordered windows.

Slowly she stood and made her way from the hall, looking left and right to make sure no one was there she made her way back to the abandoned part of the house.

Natsuki wandered down the hallways, trying to remember the way to that strange room she could vaguely see in her mind and even trying to remember something else regarding the room, anything. Wasn't there something different apart from the wood? She was not so sure anymore.. maybe some other decorations as in the rest of the house? Maybe they had had those flowers from the dining room in there as well?

A hand went up to her temple, rubbing little, soothing circles on it. She did not have a headache, and did not feel one coming up.. but she just.. had to do something besides thinking and trying to figure out the way to that room. Something had been different about it.. the whole atmosphere was different, if she remembered correctly.

With a sigh she gave up on figuring out how the room exactly looked, she had quite the idea of it, so she would be able to find it, right?

Wrong.

She had now been wandering around these long dark hallways for about an hour - why had she not taken her phone with her, she would have at least been able to see how late it was, since she honestly doubted that she would be able to get through to someone in these hallways.

Feeling a slight pang of frustration a strangled cry slipped from her and she ruffled her long hair in aggravation. Why was it that she just could not find her way around these hallways - she had thought she was getting somewhere, since she noticed some minor details being different on most hallway, and she figured she could use that knowledge to find her way.

It had not helped. She seemed to be lost again, and before she started to get even more lost - if that was even possible- she decided to just somehow get outside. Paranoia had started to set in and she could not stop herself from taking a little extra time to move about, looking behind her or even thinking that she was getting led somewhere by this cool wind that graced the hallways.

Unable to find a exit, Natsuki started to open up random doors in hopes of getting outside or to some room where Kado might be lounging around in - where was that old man anyway, she had not seen him since..

...did it count that she had seen him in her.. dream?

Never mind that, she thought and after some more minutes of pulling open door after door she opened one that lead to a little room with just a chair inside, and a coffee table with a vase placed upon it. The chair was from the very same quality as the ones in the dining room, though designed more to let whoever sat upon it relax and just rest. Disregarding that, it was practically the same.

She noticed another door in the room, opposite of the door she just came through and once again covered in beautiful carvings - this time of the wildlife one would find in a forest, some deer strewn about on that side of the door, a rabbit near the handle and even some birds she could not identify frolicking about in the air.. and all that was carved in a door.

Before she even knew, her fingers traced the carvings again like they so often did, admiring the craftsmanship and all the effort and work put into it.

A shake of the head had Natsuki snap back into reality and after tracing one of the birds for a moment longer she let her fingers wrap around the doors handle and with bated breath she opened the door.

She was promptly blinded by the sun shining straight into her face and immediately a wonderful scent of flowers invaded her nose.

She had found the - or was it just one? - way to the most magnificent garden she had ever seen.

Floating in the grey sky were hundreds of petals, they hovered over the ground dancing with the wind, despite it being almost winter most of the flowers were still holding onto their bloom, even as the wind tore at their fragile stems and ripped them out of their home.

Natsuki stepped out, the chill in the air was apparent as her breath became visible, she rubbed her arms as she ventured further.

Holding her hand out she caught hold of one of the petals that swirled playfully around her, she rolled it between her fingers, its dusky pink colour looked so out of place within this black marble manor.

It was then that she realised how blank the manor was. So lifeless. Its dark majestic glory stood so tall and proud, she had not even spared a thought to any other colour but black, white and grey existing. But as she looked around, the garden - though entering the deep clutches of winter - still tried its best to give colour to the blank landscape.

She walked over to one to he hedges, her fingers brushing the flowers gently as she walked. Forgetting everything even just for a moment, she let her breath free.

Slowly she made her way deeper into the garden, until she came across a stone bench. She watched as some birds hopped around the figure sitting on it.

Instantly her eyes took in who it was. Once again it seemed that Shizuru was the only one she was ever able to find in this house.

"Shizuru-chan.." Red eyes looked up questionably. "Do you mind if I sit next to you?"

A slight shake of the head and Natsuki was disregarded again in preference of her world full of skipping birds nibbling at bread crumbs.

Shizuru was glancing at the dark-haired girl from the corner of her eyes, a smile playing on her lips that steadily grew with every glance. The chirping of the birds providing a nice little tune in the background, they sat there for a moment in silence.

The silence was disrupted by Natsuki, clearing her throat before she asked, "Shizuru-chan? I kind of need your help..?" She scratched the back of her neck again while shooting a look to her companion, trying to see if she would agree. At the tilt of the pale girls head, and the questioning gaze she elaborated with a sigh, "There was this strange room I discovered yesterday while wandering around and I really would like to go there again. But.. well. The problem is, that I cannot find the way.."

The red gaze still held confusion, the head now tilted to the other side.

"The room was full of wood.. the floor was wooden, the walls were wooden, every piece of furniture as well. And I think.. no, I know it had a blue carpet as well. It was so different from the rest of the manor..", the deep voice drifted off, the room piecing itself together inside her head and providing a nice and relaxing picture. She was so lost in her mind, the image distracting her so much that she did not catch the strange look Shizuru shot at her as she described the room.

Startled, Natsuki looked up from the patch of grass she had been staring at while being lost in her thoughts as Shizuru all too suddenly stood up. She was still running around barefoot - did it not hurt to walk around like that all the time?

A thin, pale hand came into view, urging her to follow the white-clad girl as she slowly made her way back into the manor through the door she had just entered the garden. She got to her feet hastily and wandered after her second-cousin after admiring the surroundings for a second more.

She followed after the girl as fast as she could, the slight burn of her legs as she practically ran after her was showing that. The long maze of hallways appeared before her again, as she watched Shizuru navigate the passages as if a map had been imprinted on her mind.

She almost wished the girl had taken her hand. At least then she wouldn't have to worry about loosing her.

Doors blurred past them and Natsuki could tell that something was wrong.

But she couldn't stop to ask, not now.

Eventually they came to a stop, Shizuru's hand ran across the wall grasping the doorknob.

It looked familiar at least - the same handle, the same angle.

"Is this it?"

Nodding gently, Shizuru's fingers tightened on the doorknob, so much that you could hear the door shake with her arm.

Natsuki walked up a little closer. Licking her dry lips she gingerly placed a hand on the pale shoulder of the girl, a crooked smile made its way onto her face, uncertainty apparent.

Shizuru relaxed for a moment, her eyes flickering softly like a candle light in the dark.

"Its okay. I just want to know." She was certain there was a hole in the floor that led to that awful room, she was so sure of it. But she wasn't certain that she wanted it to be real. The feeling in her stomach reflected the one from the room, she should run away. Just run and keep running till she was home. Till she could forget.

It was a curious feeling. Finding out you could be going insane, or finding that your families ancestral home was a hot bed of murder and deep blood slathered secrets. Which could be better? Writing it off as a dream? A fantasy created by a lonely and disillusioned mind.

Or finding that you are trapped in a house ripe with murderers. A big, dark, secluded house. No one was around for at least eight miles maybe even more.

But Natsuki had to know, she couldn't let it lye. That is why she wrapper her hand over the trembling one of the younger girl and twisted the handle, letting the door squeak open.

She noticed the other girl holding her breath as the door gave way and let them enter the dimly lit room. It was just as she remembered and imagined, the rotten wooden floorboards creaking as she took a step further into the room, the dust clinging to the surfaces and swirling around in the air - made visible by the little light that was shining through the gaps where the windows were supposed to be. And the carpet, the wonderfully blue carpet. She still thought, that it did not fit into the mansion. It was of the same colour as the flowers on the dining table. It was nice.

She did not notice Shizuru being rooted to the floor, still standing in the doorway. The girls breathing had slowed down considerably - so much, that you almost did not notice her breathing at all.

"This really is the room.." Natsuki whispered in awe.. it really was curious. She was amazed by this room yet at the same time it terrified her. It was after all this room that led her into these strange caverns and to that cursed room.

All of a sudden an eerie feeling overcame her and she shuddered visibly, her hands coming up to gently rub at her arms. She swallowed softly as the chill that had appeared did not wear off as fast as she would have liked.

She had to look for that hole.

She did not like that at all, it was as if she was confirming her family being a bunch of crazy murderers who just love to torture their victims for some crude game or ritual or whatever it was.

But she had to. She would not - could not - let that issue rest. She just had to know if she was going insane and was imagining such horrible things.

Slowly she trotted from one corner of the room to the other and to another, her feet careful and treading lightly upon the rotten planks of wood. Her eyes scanned the floor as well, but she could not make out much in this dim light. Was the sun setting already, or why did it seem as if the light was disappearing more and more the longer she was in here?

Not finding any indication of a hole - or any work that may have fixed the hole up while she was sleeping - she resorted to crawling on the floor, her hands helping her feet in checking for something - anything!

But there was nothing.

She lifted her dust covered body from the floor, laughing. It had to be a joke. She jumped up and down. There had to be a hole here.

But no.

Nothing sounded.

So she was… crazy. A lunatic.

She had been worrying about something that didn't exist. She had imagined such horrible things. Did she even know what was real anymore?

Was this real?

Here she was in a empty room, jumping up and down on the spot.

Turning to Shizuru she could see.. Nothing.. The girl was gone….

"…What..?"

She rushed to the door, her hands held her as she slammed them into the frame looking down the hallways. But no one was there she was alone.

Could the girl truly disappear? Was it possible for her to be gone in a matter of seconds?

"…I don't… I don't.." She crouched down, her head cradled in her hands. Confusion bounced around in her head.

What was happening to her?

She had to get out. Right now!

Almost throwing herself forwards she hurtled out the door, swinging it shut with force.

She almost ran into the wall directly across the door, having forgotten it was there at all, but she managed to stop in time and instead she practically flew down the hallway to her left, not even bothering to try and remember where she turned and went down another hallway.

Doors passed by in the blink of an eye as she ran through the labyrinth made from black marble. Her eyes noticed different things, her mind questioning them immediately as they did so. This painting on the wall - did it not hang somewhere in the main hallways that led to the dining room? Why was it here? Did she just imagine it hanging here, or was the one in the main hallways the imagination?

She was not sure what she could trust anymore. She was a lunatic. She was not to be trusted.

Her feet slowed almost to a stop at that thought, but she still dragged herself further, beyond the painting that mocked her for the third time, beyond the candleholder with it's candles that were almost gone already.

For a moment she even thought she saw those candles flickering to life and burning - but it was only for a second. Her mind was playing tricks on her. She was a lunatic.

It kept repeating in her head. She could not stop it.

Natsuki's breathing was ragged from the full out sprint she had done, a bit of sweat adorning her forehead, making some stray strands of hair cling to it with all their might. She needed a break.

Her hands found themselves against wood and for a moment she feared she had run in a circle and had arrived back where she had started. She threw herself back, almost tripping over her own feet in the process and leaned against the wall, her gaze rising up to where her hands had just moments prior been.

It was just the door to the library, no need to panic. It was just the door to the library.

Just the door to the library.

A bit of warm air slithered out from under the door. For a few seconds Natsuki rested her head against it, she felt as if she was in some kind of sick mind play. The hallways were so dark that it was impossible for her to tell how long they went on for. For a moment she felt as though she was in an old video game where you could only see the light about five meters away from you, and it gave you that lonely, dim feeling.

Her hand slowly turned the door knob. Too tired to worry or think, she opened it, the warmth from the other side of this door was a unusual but not unwelcome feeling to get in this place.

As she yanked the heavy door open, it's large wooden frame creaking on its hinges, she was met with the sight of a wood burner, sparking away at the other end of the large room. There were a few chairs around, royal red and blue with high backs, the door slid shut behind her before its weight made it slam at the last second, the sound echoing around the room, making it even more intimidating than before.

Jumping forward a little, she looked around.

Visiting the place where a nightmare happened.. But who's to say what Shizuru did a short time ago to her in this room was in fact a nightmare.

Regardless of the fact that she was even doubting her own mind at the moment, this place gave her a spooky feeling. She scoffed at herself, when hadn't she been spooked since she had been here?

Putting that aside, who had been here anyway. Surely that old woman hadn't been.. The room was at least a good twenty minute walk from her office.

On uneasy legs she took her fist step further in.

The warm air enveloped her in a welcome and gentle hug as she crept closer to the chairs and thus closer to the burner. Natsuki anticipated the feel of the incredibly soft looking material that covered the chairs and reached out with her hand to stroke over it as she was able to reach it. It felt warm, the heat from the burner being the cause more than likely, and soothed her mind. Her hand traced the decorative seams stitched into the velvet and the more she traced the less uneasy she felt, it was almost like magic.

Her eyes flickered up to the fire and for a moment she thought she saw something in it, but it had vanished as soon as she tried to focus on it.

She turned her head to the side, the flames and the heat too much for her to look into longer than a few moments, and let her gaze wander to the rest of the library.. at least the part she was able to see from where she was. It was huge, like the rest of the manor, so it would not surprise her if she were to end up god knows where, were she to start walking into one direction.

Her hand slid off the warm velvet and Natsuki nearly jumped as her fingers brushed against the cool wooden surface of the armrests. To think they were this cold, even with a fire raging quite nearby.. it really was strange, but she did not ponder further on it, it would not help her. She'd only give herself another painful headache. She'd had enough of those already within this last week.

And suddenly the uneasy feeling came back full force and hit her like a train, almost flooring her. She quickly held onto the armrest for she feared she really would crumple to the floor with that weight upon her shoulders again.

"Maybe.. maybe I should just sit down for a while," she whispered to the air in front of her. She right out fell into that chair and into the welcoming velvet, her head coming to lean against the high backrest as she closed her eyes for a moment and simply breathed.

Too many thoughts and feelings running through her head made the silence in the room welcome. And for a few seconds she felt a pang of calm.. before something large and hard smacked her right across the face as she recoiled, her eyes clenched shut in pain. She heard the fluttering of paper and a loud thud as the object tumbled to the floor, sliding a short way.

Cupping her sore cheek she rubbed at it. Her eyes narrowed in anger and she got up, her whole body tense as she glared in the direction it came from.

"Who's there? Come out you ass. That hurt!"

But no answer followed. No sound was heard.

Tightening her lips into a line, figuring they must of run out of the room or had hidden. She turned to the book stomping over to where it was. Picking up the large tomb of a book, she lifted it up brushed it off.

Throwing a book. What were they five?

As the dust floated up into the air, silver writing made itself known on the black surface. Her fingers slowed as she brushed off more of the dust, showing a familiar symbol.

Her brow furrowed, putting the book closer to her face she could make out the dimmed silver symbol as something very familiar.

A flash of images.

An eyeless man.

A large bloodstained room.

Corpses.

Death.

Blood.

And a symbol.

This symbol. The same one she holds in her hand at this very moment.

"No…"

Unable to speak her mind voiced her thoughts.

_There is just no way.._

_OXOXOXOXOX_

_Lion: Ok then lets start this an off with a quote from one of my role models _

_"Bite my shiny metal ass!" -Bender._

**sheep: Who would've guessed that Bender is one of your role models.**

_Lion: I think he's a great role model. live fast. live hard. party baby! Yeah!_

**sheep: ...yup. Who would've guessed. By the way, I am drooling on my keyboard. It is not as funny as it sounds.**

_Lion: well not for you but for me its a right laugh_

**sheep: Yeah, my mother starts to giggle every time she looks at me 'cause half of my face is numb, thus I am making hilarious expressions, apparently. Fucking dentists. Hate them.**

_Lion: Aw poor sheepy *hugs you* Don't drool on me_

**sheep: Oh fuck you Lion. *still hugs you and tries not to drool on you***

_Lion: Forever love. anyway down to business. first we would like to say a huge sorry for the delay, and give a slight update on life and how much it kicks our ass. we don't want this AN to be too long so.. take it away sheep!_

**sheep: Yeha, I love you too. So very, very much *sarcasm*. **

**But yeah, I am getting my wisdom teeth pulled - and lucky me, not all at once, instead my dear dentist is pulling them one at a time because I don't even know why. **

**So.. I may not always be in the mood to write some horror that includes dentists and pulling teeth and stuff, since I hate dentists. We'd end up with a weird-ass story. Trust me.**

_Lion: yeah that's why... cause EVERYONE wants to read a horror story about dentists.._

_I've been studying... and i did some exams Oh.. i got assassins creed 3 which was pretty cool... though Connors voice actor did angry really well.. but everything else was kinda mono tone _

_as for B.a.w the next chapter will be up soon but first i must update my own story Game so any readers of that look forward to it. OH and futurama is awesome!_

**sheep: Woop, another chapter of Game! Finally! **

**But yeah.. no one wants a horror-story about dentists, especially not I. Forgive me. **

**...I'd smile right now, but I can't. Half my face doesn't fucking respond to my brain.**

_Lion: XD yes game will be updated. sorry for the wait. but we should end this here so sheep.. *picks up gun* lets lock and load!_

**sheep: Where'd you get the gun? *looks around and shrugs after finding nothing* Well, who cares. **

**Hope you enjoyed this shorter chapter.**

_Lion: as bender would say._

_"Who are you, and why should I care?"_

_Ah you've got to love bender. R&R!_


	6. Chapter 6

**BLACK**and _WHITE_

The time after that was spent in a whirl of confusion that caught Natsuki's mind like a typhoon, her thoughts whipping round her head violently crashing off the sides. The book had long slipped from her grasp, it lay motionless on the floor the symbol carved into its cover stared back at Natsuki, it's image imprinting on her mind like a scar.

The fire crackled behind her, its wood clunking together sending a wave of sparks outwards. The sound was like a slap to the back of Natsuki's head, breaking her staring competition with the book she glared into the fire.

What did it mean?Why was it there?

How did this even happen to her?

The memory of the smell from the day before wafted to her nose again, there sheer memory of it was enough to make her eyes water, she wrinkled her face up, shaking her head.

It was real. So that meant that Shizuru had taken her to the wrong room, hadn't it? With the size of this mansion Natsuki couldn't help but think so. Even people who had been in this place so much longer than her, had to get lost here sometimes.

Slowly she bent down to scoop the book up, heavier than she remembered it, it reeked of dust and damp, she fingered the edge of the cover, nervously.

Her fingers ran up and down the edge in a questioning motion. Was it alright to open it? What would happen?

A brittle laugh rose from her lips as she reassured and scolded her self for being so weak.

Her trembling hand lifted the cover, opening the book up to her eyes. Its old pages caked with dust and she almost faltered when she went to turn the page, from the idea of the page crumbling in her hands.

Slowly she turned the pages, strange symbols and markings, words in languages she was sure didn't even exist anymore, there were notes in Japanese, littering every corner, but they made no sense words and phrases. At times they seemed almost like the markings of a madman, in its erratic, spicks and curves.

It was then that a large folded piece of paper fell from the books hold. Landing almost silently on the dark floor.

"What is that?" Natsuki muttered under her breath, picking it up off the floor she held it for a moment, turning it over in her hands. Seeing nothing she unfolded it carefully.

Whatever was pictured on the piece of paper seemed to be relatively old, the ink having faded a bit by now in the areas where it was wrinkled from being handed to many different hands, most likely.

Her eyebrow shot up as her eyes scanned the page, a question at the tip of her tongue but no one there to hear it, so she did not even bother to voice it.

She was able to identify it as some kind of map or blueprint from the very library she was standing in, so she sat back down on the chair, her back immediately meeting the backrest while the hand holding the seemingly ancient map was set down onto the armrest. Her eyes never left it, she was too curious to look away. After a minute or two she sighed, the other hand that had been lazily dangling off of the other armrest coming up to glide through her hair once - but stopping midway.

There was a sign deeply imprinted in the paper, almost digging through it. Her hand moved towards it and softly brushed across it. She squinted her eyes a bit, trying to get a better look at it, somehow. The sign marked some area near the fireplace - it actually seemed to directly mark the fireplace itself.

Natsuki honestly could care less about weird sayings such as 'curiosity killed the cat', so without further ado she got up again and proceeded toward where the sign pointed, ready to see what was so important about the fireplace to even be marked in a map.

She glanced at the flames for a moment, enjoying the warmth they provided in this chilling house and started to look for anything that may seem out of place, something that may have been added to the fireplace years after this plan in her hand had been created. Her free hand brushed across the mantelpiece carefully, her fingers leaving a clearly visible trail in the dust that had gathered there over the years and revealing the most delicate craftsmanship she had ever seen.

Dozens of little.. things were carved into the stone - she sadly could not clearly tell what it was supposed to portray. Her first thought was 'animals', since there were quite a few carvings of that kind in the manor, but she shook that thought away as soon as it came and took a closer look.

She wiped her hand on her pants to get the dust off her fingers only to coat them with it seconds later as she wiped more dust off of the mantelpiece, revealing more of the fine carvings.

A dusty finger came up to scratch at her cheek while she pondered on where she had seen this before. Her eyes travelled from the fireplace back to the seat she had occupied moments prior, then to the entrance she had come through and finally they landed on the strange book on the floor.

A shiver ran up her spine as she gazed upon symbol on it, and her heart started to beat faster. The ungodly smell of the cavern seemed to appear again out of thin air and she could not stop herself from gagging as soon as it met her, her free hand quickly slapping itself over her mouth, the dust still clinging to it with all its might.

The longer she stared at it - she could not look away, no matter how hard she tried to - the stronger the smell became and the sicker she got and the more she trembled. Deep breaths did not calm her, they only managed to make it worse and she almost vomited right there, but she somehow swallowed the bile rising up her throat and finally tore her gaze away.

It was as though the symbol was burned into her eyes, like when you stare at the sun or something bright enough to momentarily blind you. She blinked and shook her head, the symbol refused to fade, rubbing her eyes she blindly lent forward slightly, blinking into fire, it was almost close enough to burn her, but that wasn't what she saw first.

Words.

Behind the naked flame were scratches into the marble, the same words as in the book. She blinked again the symbol still not disappearing. Her eyes followed the strange words, that snaked their way throughout the inside of the fireplace.

They flashed slightly it was almost as if they were stretching out towards her like a 3d film. Slowly Japanese words started to poke out between the strange scribbles, one shining brighter than all the others.

In Natsuki's vision the word scolded and tore the symbol from her eyes, and in the first time in a long while Natsuki felt warm and calm.

She almost reached out to touch it, even through the flames, but they acted like a barrier from the light, taking a small but deep breath, she huskily let the word out it escaped her like a whisper.

"Hotaru.."

The wall started to shake with abundance, the floor shivered as if struck by fever, her body knocked off balance fell back and she scuttled away from the fire. She slid backwards her back hitting the chair, that's when it stopped.

The fire clicked and fell about an inch, a grinding sound made itself known as the fireplace started to unhinge, the flames continuing to dim down until there was just something akin to a candle's flame left and then the wall creaked open

A light flared from down the dark passage, unlike the fire however it was blue, and waved like water across the stone cavern in the passage.

Natsuki swallowed and took a trembling step further into the passage, following the light despite her head telling her not to do so.

It was as if an invisible force pulled her towards the light, she could not help herself, the blue light kept begging to her and it's waving pattern hypnotized her more and more with every step she took. She did not notice the flames flickering back to life in the fireplace as soon as she had distanced herself enough, nor did she notice the words glimmering for a split second before the fireplace was back to it's former ordinary self.

The blue light illuminated what little space she had to move forward, it was barely big enough for her to stand upright. She would think herself lucky that she was not claustrophobic, if she was not so transfixed on the light weaving wonderful patterns against the ground and the walls.

She barely noticed the colour slowly bleeding into a beautiful violet, which in turn changed into a deep red after some moments, the weaving pattern changing as well now into barely recognizable shapes which, if looked at from a certain perspective, resembled screaming faces.

What she did notice immediately, however, was the passage becoming wider and wider until it became one large room, the ceiling being incredibly high up and the walls now looking as if she had gone into a cave, moss clinging to them here and there.

The light was still present, but now there was no visible pattern to it anymore, it just served to illuminate the room and as she tried to figure out where it came from she continued looking around.

One of the first things she questioned was the purpose of all the water around her. The room was filled completely with the liquid - some even dripping from the ceiling and creating a steady rhythm her heart proceeded to follow without question - apart from a thin bridge that seemed to naturally have formed from stone.

It led to the middle of the cave where an island protruded, as well as some candles, their flames flickering a soft red.

Her feet carried her further across the stone bridge, the sound of her footsteps against it echoing around and making everything seem eerie. Natsuki almost stepped into the centre of the little platform before she noticed some kind of basin smack-dab in the middle, surrounded by minor bits and pieces of.. things she could not name.

She took one of those pieces in her hand and stared at it, turning it this way and that way before she simply shrugged and put it down again. Her gaze wandered to the basin, noticing that there was nothing inside besides a small, dark stain. She shivered as her mind immediately thought of long dried blood and decided that she really did not want to know more about the origins of it.

With another shiver she stepped near the edge of the platform, slightly crouching down to gaze at the water and try to see how deep it was, which proved to be a problem since the water seemed to block off any light, thus making it actually look as if it was simply black. So she did the next best thing she could think of - she took one of the larger pieces lying around the basin and carefully held that in the water, mindful to not let her fingers touch the surface.

As she pulled the piece back out it was as it had been before, water glistening on its surface the only difference.

Tossing the Piece a side she looked a little closer, there were no foul smells only the small crack of the objects filled the room as she lay down on her belly, near the edge of the platform. She slowly reached out her left arm, her hand hovering over the waters edge, slowly she edged her fingers nearer the surface. Its deep black mirror like surface, echoed the mirror image of her hand almost perfectly.

Slowly she dipped her fingers in, the water was cold, like ice, she watched as the ripples fanned out across the pool of water.

She released a breath she didn't know she was holding in, getting up she looked around, a secret door, to nothing?

Maybe there was another passage.. Maybe they took whatever was in here out.. Maybe….

The was a deep throb in her head. She let out a stiff sharp burst of air in pain. Her eyes watered as the throb dimmed, but her vision did too.. She was all of a sudden less stable, stumbling back wards she slipped her body hurtling backwards, hitting the cold surface, breaking through it, she was dragged under.. Her vision went blank.

OXOXOXOXOX

She blinked.

Her vision white, blurred, and finally clear.

The sky was a mixture of grey and blue, as if the world had been consumed with low clouds, all around her were floating islands they each had a set of glowing blue veins lacing their form, the light seemed to pulse slowly like a beating heart, each throb brought a fresh burst of dim light. She rubbed her unbelieving eyes.

"What is this..?" She wondered, her voice echoing, into the mist.

The islands drifted slowly in the sea of mist, each one having their own building on it, if you could call the ruined works or architecture a building. However some did hold up their black shadows visible in the distance or hiding behind the clouded setting.

She rolled over to her side looking over the side of the platform, she was in the exact same place she had been before she had fallen into the water. It was strange almost as if someone had taken that small platform and placed it in an entirely different plane of existence.

She slowly sat up. Her hand making contact with stone, the small clap echoed out across the space.

There were no objects lining the floor and the basin was full with glowing blue water, its surface looked as though it had never been broken before.

Natsuki briefly wondered if there was any kind of weird drug in that pool, that would of made her think of these things.

She softly shook her head, which was definitely not a good idea for now a dull throb made itself known. Her hand flew up to her temple, pressing lightly against it in hopes of dimming the pain. She must've hit her head quite a bit on that stone floor here.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a short moment and opened them again, taking in her surroundings once more - especially the platform she was on. It seriously looked just like that secret chamber she had discovered, minus all the water around. Instead there was just simply nothing. Empty space where the water had surrounded her, so if she somehow slipped now...

"..god, let's not go there," she thought, quite horrified as the image of her tumbling down into the abyss entered her mind involuntarily.

Carefully Natsuki stood up, her legs a bit shaky but otherwise feeling quite fine, and decided that under no circumstances she wanted to get even remotely close to the edge of 'her' platform.

A sudden noise had her turn around so fast her vision blurred for a second and made her head spin. A hurried step forward was the immediate reaction - she really did not want to be in any danger of falling into the emptiness surrounding her per accident. She almost lost her balance because of that step, but her mind was too obsessed with creating distance between the edge and herself to notice that, so she stumbled a little further to the middle of the platform again, her breath coming out in little bursts and her blood pumping furiously through her veins.

Unfortunately for her and her heart, she somehow just managed to walk into something akin to string, but more elastic and also quite sticky.

"Gah!"

Her hands flew up to her face, waving around and slashing at the air vehemently, the feeling of that string on her face so unexpected and unwelcome that she could not help that little exclamation escaping her mouth which then only proceeded to echo around in the nothingness surrounding her, making this weird place even creepier than it already was.

Her heart beating so much it seemed as if it wanted to crush her ribcage, she blindly stumbled forward and tripped over the basin, falling face first onto the stone floor. She braced herself for the impact and winced as she landed on something not quite as cold and hard. She let out a breath she had not even known she was holding, and relaxed slightly.

"Well," came a giggle "look what we have here - fresh meat!"

Natsuki's breath caught in her throat again, and her eyes widened so much it seemed as if her eyeballs might fall out of her skull at any moment - her mouth not faring any better, hanging open so wide that she was sure she had just unhinged her jaw.

All of a sudden she was aware of the cold, fairly hard.. thing, she was leaning against. She swallowed softly, trying to get that freshly formed knot in her throat away while she did not dare move an inch.

A thin, sharp thing curled itself around her waist and sent a violent shiver up her spine. Her pulse quickened, her legs now beginning to tremble and giving way, so she fell even more against whatever was holding her up.

Her arms uselessly hang by her body. She was petrified, not even thinking about struggling and trying to break free. A drop of sweat ran down the side of her face, down her neck and disappeared under her shirt, and gathering all the courage she could she looked up.

She had not expected a human face, devilishly smirking at her and showing off sharp teeth.

She blanched, taking a sharp breath of air, that instantly caught in her throat, at the same time her body had decided this would be a good time to scream, making her sound like a strangled chicken, as her squawk of 'Holy shit!' was thrown from her lips.

And just like that, she had been caught. The creature hanging above her smirked, the corners of her mouth betraying her want to full out grin at Natsuki's startled face. Natsuki felt the grip on her waist tighten tenfold, the air being pushed from her lungs, as the creature flung her into the air, like a rag doll.

Natsuki saw the world spin on axle as her body flew upwards through the air, before coming to a sudden stand still, as the sticky stringy feeling from before enveloped her.

For a few moments Natsuki's eyes blurred in darkness, her body ached and she wondered if this is what it felt like to get hit by a car for a few seconds. A deep groan of pain, and disorientated confusion, rumbled from her body.

"Hey! don't you go fainting on me. I don't have time to look after your stupid mug, human." She felt a hard poke in her ribs, and shied away from the rough poke.

Natsuki felt something cover her arms, and she was jolted upright, coming face to face with a scowling red head.

"I said up." Natsuki felt a hand slap her face lightly a few times.

Natsuki looked at the redhead through clouded eyes, her vision clearing slightly, her ears still buzzing from the force of the throw. But she made eye contact with the creature, that seemed to satisfy it.

"..What..?.. What's.. going on?"

The red head sneered a little, and muttered something about humans having no manners.

Sighing the red head, looked Natsuki over as if studying a science specimen.

"First you turn up late, and then you don't introduce yourself.. Typical human."

"..What are you talking about?.. Human?.. Aren't you also a-"

The red head looked at her, her eyes just screaming 'finish that sentence, I dare you.' It was then that Natsuki got a full look at the red heads body, her mind and eyes just clear enough to take in the woman before her.

Shoulder length red hair, lime green eyes, that spat poison in her direction, and… from the waist down.. The body of a spider…

For a few seconds her brain could not even comprehend what she was seeing. So she did the only thing she could think of at the moment.

She let loose a blood curdling scream.

"Oh for gods sake.. Would you just-shut-up!" The other girl.. spider? ..whatever she was, yelled right back in her face while Natsuki kept screaming, her face set in a horrible grimace as she did so.

The redhead, intent on having that human shut the hell up, gave up on yelling at her to do so, so she simply shot some web at the poor girls mouth, which promptly sealed her mouth shut and made the screaming stop.

"That's what you get for not listening to me," came the smug reply to the panicked look Natsuki had shot the redheads way.

"Ready to listen now and not freak the hell out on me again? Or do I have to completely encase you in my web?" A bored sigh was let out at the end of that sentence before a smirk came onto the spider-girls face again. "Actually, that would be really amusing. So go ahead, freak out and struggle or something."

The eyes of the dark-haired one widened once again, and she violently nodded her head to show that she was absolutely willing to listen, even if she was also terrified. She felt herself being slowly lowered to the ground and hoist up into a sitting position before she watched the spider-girl position herself in front of her. It was intimidating to say the least, having practically a gigantic spider right before you while you were trapped in its webbings. Not to mention that look she was being given. A look that could make grown men turn to quivering messes, in their boots.

Natsuki tried to calm her pounding heart down as best as she could while bound and practically gagged, which did not work well as one could imagine. She swallowed softly, her mouth having gone a little dry, and tried not to look at the redhead opposite of her. Gazing at her made her think of that dream she had had, trapped in a room that's being flooded with spiders.. the walls practically enclosing around her and making her feel so very claustrophobic.

Her eyes widened for a second as she remembered the feeling of thousands of little spider legs crawling up her body and slowing her down, suffocating her and she began to tremble.

The redheads rather sultry voice sounded again, bringing her back from that nightmare. "For the love of.. you humans are so annoying." And with that sentence, she picked up Natsuki again and did as she had said before - she began to spin a web all around her without even blinking, all the while grinning in that devilish way and showing off some of her fangs again.

The Natsuki-Cocoon wiggled around violently before the redheaded girl sighed again and rather reluctantly freed her face, so that she could breathe and talk normally.

"What the f-" Natsuki was cut off once again, webbing once again covered her mouth.

"Temper, temper. There is no need for swearing Na-tsu-ki~cha~n"

Natsuki's eyes widened, she knew her name.

As if reading her mind, the girl-spider, smirked and lent in close. "I know alo~t about you, Natsuki. I'm hurt that you would think me so stupid, as to not know who my guest is. Then again all humans are the same when it comes to their mind.. So possessive…" The red heads smirk widened when she saw the look of horror on the humans face. "Now.. Lets start again.. Hello I'm Nao, a drider.. Welcome to limbo!" Nao gestured with her arms to the wide open clouded space around them.

She then snapped her fingers and let Natsuki's mouth free.

"Be nice" She warned.

Natsuki's head almost exploded.. Limbo.. Limbo was a place for dead people.. So.."A-am I dead?" She choked out.

Nao grinned at the question, chuckling under her breath, she spoke. "No.. you are not dead… your soul.. Well lets just say.. Its gone walk about.."

"W-walk about..?"

Nao rolled her eyes. "Its gotten up and gone for a walk. Left the building. Gone on holiday. On a tea break. Its gone homing pigeon on you… get it now?"Natsuki's look of pure horror, melted into one of disbelief, and then into one of panic. "Am I stuck here? What do I do? Holy heck. Oh my god!" She was once again treated to a make-out with some webbing.

"Ugh.. You're even more annoying than that stupid Mai friend of yours. Jeez.. Look you're fine.. Well as long as you don't die here.. Then you're seriously dead. Like deader than dead.. Your soul would just disappear.."

Natsuki felt her mouth go dry and she tried to swallow, blinking in terror.

"Oh don't make such a face, little girl. Even if I don't want to, you'll have me watching your back," the drider tossed her red mane over her shoulder, "..and nothing will happen to you because I am just that badass." She ended her sentence with another smirk and crossed her arms over her chest. Just then did Natsuki notice those long claw like fingernails on the redheads hands, not even wanting to imagine what those claws could possibly do to a human.

Raising an eyebrow, Nao presented her claws proudly to her terrified charge and turned them slowly, wiggling her fingers while doing so to show off even more which only further scared the poor human.

With another devilish smile she promptly retold what she had once done to some stupid human male with just these claws. It ended with the male unable to reproduce ever again. She laughed wholeheartedly when Natsuki's face seemed to be stuck in a permanent grimace between disgust and fear, and she decided that she had had enough fun for the moment. She did have a job to do after all.

"Now, listen carefully, because I am just going to explain this once - if you don't pay attention you're pretty much screwed, since I don't give a damn. Understood?" While she spoke, she pulled out a nail file from somewhere and began filing her claws while casually looking this way and that, occasionally looking at the entrapped girl. The dark-haired one nodded again, still a little terrified of the drider, especially after that story.

Said drider continued where she left off immediately after the nod. "Good, you are able to learn after all. Just takes you some time apparently. Anyway. As I said, I am pretty much your guide in the limbo here, and have been kindly asked," at that, she snorted. 'Kindly asked my ass, more like I've been threatened to get killed if I don't!' she thought with a roll of the eyes, "to show you what to do and what not to do which brings me to the first point - don't go about and disrespect the other demons and ghosts around here."

A questioning look was shot her way, for Natsuki still had the web over her mouth and she really did not want that stupid human to interrupt her while she was explaining. She'd probably just ask about something she would have explained anyway.

"...seriously, you humans..", the redhead muttered under her breath before speaking louder again. "Yes, there are other weird things like me, yes they could rip you apart for some little mistake, yes it is dangerous."

Satisfied that she scared Natsuki even more, she continued to explain her role as best as she could, "Also, don't wander around mindlessly or without a destination in mind here. You'd just get lost and I'd have to come save your sorry ass, which I would prefer not to. I have better things to do than watch over some stupid human who thinks she's too smart to listen to any of the crap I've been telling you."

The drider grinned when she saw her charge roll her eyes while huffing. 'Well, seems like I will have much fun in annoying the crap out of her. What adorable reactions.. almost makes me sick.'

"Well to put it bluntly I'm your babysitter. How fun." Nao calmly made her way over to Natsuki, and pulled her close. "A few more things, first no, you can't know why you are here yet, no I can't tell you who wants me to look after you, just think yourself lucky… I kinda feel sorry for you, for a human you're amusing…""Now here's the fun part, I am allowed to bring you here whenever I want, however I want, so that means I'm still gonna be watching you. So as a precaution, I have to mark you." Natsuki felt cool air brush against her neck as some of the webbing was moved aside.

"Brace yourself Na-chan, cause this is really, really going to hurt."

Then something touched her, she didn't know what it was, couldn't see what was happening, as her vision blanked in white pain, her mouth still plastered close, mumbled groans of pain.

Then it was over.. And she fell lax, still encased in the webbing.

"Right then, that's enough for our first meeting." Chuckled the drider. "See you soon, Natsuki-chan. Bye, bye."

Then one of those sharp claw like fingernails pressed against her forehead and she blacked out one more.

XOXOXOXOXNatsuki opened her eyes, the deep green hazy and tired. She was back in her own room, to be honest she couldn't even find it within herself to be shocked or scared. She was warm, but that was about it. All other feelings where that of despair and loneliness.

She couldn't even tell herself that it was a nightmare. Or that it was because she had not had enough sleep. Her neck throbbed in a slight pain, and she reached up to touch the scar like mark on her neck.

No it was real.

This was real.

A small but intricate design, of a rose looking as sitting on top of a gothic design of sharp black curves in a bird like form. Rubbing it she sat up in her bed. For once she was alone, and had woken up in a fairly normal way. No screaming, or terrible shocks.

She tensed and pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them close. It was then she realised how alone she had felt.. If Shizuru had been here.. would she of felt this way? Despite her.. Oddness. The girl had.. Made her feel less.. Alone… but here she was sitting in her bed hugging her knees to her chest, trying to hold herself together.

_'You're even more annoying than that stupid Mai friend of yours.' _

Her head snapped up as she remembered that sentence, the driders voice sending a shiver up and down her spine even if she just imagined it. What if that Nao person had done something to Mai? What if Mai was trapped in that limbo like she was, but had no one to send her back out? What if she got ripped in half by one of the other things the spider-demon had said existed in there? What if.. what if..!

In a slight panic she hurried off the bed and practically destroyed her room in search of her phone. She just had to call Mai, check up on her.. what would she have done without Mai? What would she do without her now?

A heavy, imaginary boulder had been lifted from her shoulders as she spotted her phone under some clothes on the floor. She dashed to it, thanking whatever deity was watching out for her mentally, and did not even care that the clock on her phone showed it was only 4.17am. Who cared about the time - she had to see if Mai was alright!

Anxiously she awaited for her dear friend to pick up her phone while chewing on her knuckle to keep herself as calm as possible in her situation. 'God, what if she can't pick up her phone because something ri -' her thought was interrupted as the tired voice of Mai sounded through Natsuki's phone.

"..yes, hello.. Natsuki..? Why are y-", a yawn broke free of her dear friends mouth,"..calling so early?"

The dark-haired girl was not able to respond properly, her mouth just spewing nonsense - at least to Mai - that was just not understandable, though it sounded like she was crying.

"M-Mai? Oh god, Mai! Y-You are alive! Oh thank god.. I-I thought.." a chocked sob left Natsuki's mouth and the tears started flowing again, more heavily than before, sinking to her knees, she bowed into a shell like position and sobbed, her head meshed against the phone.

"N-Natsuki? Are you crying?""Mai.." She groaned out miserably.

"Yes what's the matter.." Mai's soft motherly voice was like a taste of honey in a bitter world.

"I-I Wanna go home…"

OXOXOXOXOXXO

_L: *Calmly walks into An sits down with a cup of tea*_

**S: *Walks in after Lion, raises an eyebrow at the cup of tea and just stands beside Lion* Well. You and your tea. Not a day going by without it, mh?**

_L: If the British didn't have tea... i shudder to think of what would happen to us..._

**S: I guess that's true. Whatever. So.. Merry belated Christmas and a Happy New Year, I guess? *Shrugs and proceeds to take off her glasses to clean them***

_L: Yup we actually got this out before 2013.. I'm in shock._

**S: Not only you, Lion, not only you. But that's what you get for teaming up with someone like me who has not even updated her own Story in over a year or something like that.**

_L: Well I'm the drive behind this team, I know that guess that's why you're the herbivore and I'm the carnivore, well I'm feeling docile right now so here's the low-down._

_Well Its soon to be 2013 here's to a good one huh? *raises cup of tea then sips it* both I and sheep have had.. an interesting year.. and I'm so glad its over to be honest. turning a new leaf and all that. hope you all had a good Christmas and i know I said I'd update game, the problem is... I'm already like 15 pages in and its not done so its gonna be a long chapter._

_me and sheep have been having ideas for another fanfic although this will be in no way like BAW_.

**S: Ohgod, the other fanfic. Parody fic. Whatever you want to call it. We will not be able to update that one so often, I bet, because we are going to laugh ourselves into oblivion with everything we come up.**

_L: trust me sheep yesterday I tried to watch the anime again... I cried laughing_

**S: Oh I bet you did.. I am never going to be able to watch the ending again without laughing my ass off. And it is all your fault.**

_L: It was all my fault I'm not denying.. I'm sorry but I couldn't help it.. it just.. came out._

**S: I noticed. But anyway, enough about that. They will see it for themselves when we decide to post it. The AN is getting too long again. Lets end this already**

_L: Okay then lets end it *sips tea* aw its gone cold.. *stares at tea cup.. stares at sheep.. stares at tea cup.. stares at sheep..*_

**S: Yup. Hope you enjoyed it, if not I don't even care.. blablabla. Typical stuff Authors say. And why are you staring at me, lion? *raises eyebrow again* Oh you know what, never mind. *walks off***

_L: B-BUT MY TEAS GONE COLD SHEEP! *runs after sheep*_

**S: *somewhere in the background* Get off of me, Lion! I don't care!**

***the sound of an angry scream as lion accidentally trips and chucks her tea on sheep***

**Don't worry, the parody fic is just for fun, it wont distract us from this fic. PS: Sheep's just tsundere she does care really. R&R**


	7. Author Note

Hello, dear readers who will be terribly dissapointed that this is not an update!

This will just be a little Author Note hopefully everyone of our followers will read. If not, it's not our problem.  
And yes, this is Sheep writing, so pardon me for being my usual cold self, Lion is preoccupied at the moment. She is a good girl and is writing for her own stories, while I am a lazy bum and mostly do not even care anymore about mine.

Though enough about that, back to the topic at hand.

This is just to inform you all that the updates will not come monthly as usual - or at least as they should. We will be putting this story kind of on hiatus, until we figure some parts out in the plot we have not been so sure about and we need to discuss way more than we did.

But do not fear, we shall most likely be back sometime around April or May, depending on how far we get with the planning and all that comes with it. And depending on how much Lion kicks this lazy Sheep in the butt.

That is all.

And we are, by the way, terribly sorry for getting your hopes up with this new 'chapter' that is just simply a note.. Sheep herself detests such things, but it sadly is the best way to get the most people to know about such things.

~BlackSheep & WhiteLion


End file.
